Maximum Ride: It's Part of Life
by K-OfTheSouthernIsles
Summary: Summery: In Maximum Ride Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, Max and the flock wake up in a facility Remember? . Well this is my version of what happened...Btw: I don't own anything or anyone in the following story.
1. The Beginging

Maximum Ride: It's Part of Life

Summery: In Maximum Ride Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, Max

and the flock wake up in a facility (Remember?). Well this is my version

of what happened...Btw: I don't own anything or anyone in the

following story.

Max POV

"My head is reeling." Snap! I looked around to see where I was, then saw 3 dirty faces gently sleeping, even though we were strapped to the bed. When I looked to my other side I saw 2 of the darkest eyes looking right back at me. Relief flooded over me like when a fat kid reaches a McDonalds. And if you've not figured out whose eyes that were looking back at me were Fang's eyes.

"Have you heard or seen anything?" I whispered.

"No, are you okay?"

"Not dead, you?"

"Same here."

"Have you made a plan?" I asked hopefully.

"Nope, that's your job."

"Oh ha. You're so funny." I said sarcastically and laid my head back down on the cold metal 'bed'. Just as I lay there thinking of how to get out of here the door opened and revealed a woman's silhouette in

the frame. "Oh, your awake!" the silhouette said and turned out to be a

woman who was about 45 to 50.

"Yeah! Wouldn't want to miss the torture and agony, now would I?" I said, I have to remind myself give me high five later.

"Good gracious child, W-why would we compromise our Experiment?"

When she said that I was 'bout to break loose from all these ties and

strangle her fat, old neck. She gave a puzzled expression then went around checking all of our stats. And as she began to leave Angel walked freak out. _"I told them that I would work for them. And so I'm am pretending to. I have a plan so just trust me." _I have to admit it was freaky when she "sent" my brain messages. But she is my baby and I trust her. And I went with her plan.

"You little traitor!" I nearly screamed. And every much to my

surprise the woman reached around and snatched my arm so she could have

my full attention.

"You will not address the Miss in that matter or tone!" she yelled so loud it woke the others.

"You are dismissed, Willa." Angel said in the gentlest voice I've ever heard her use. But Willa left.

"Sorry I yelled at you but I had to be convincing." I said to let Angel know I wasn't mad at her.

"It's' fine, But once we've got you all out of the room you head up the hall, down the stairs, then there is a reception desk, make 2 rights, and then a left-"

"We will just go through a window." Iggy burst out.

"I'm cool with that." I agreed.

"Me too!" Both Gazzy and Nudge making all of giggle even Fang gave a faint smile.

"Will you get us out of these straps?" I wondered who said

that...Total!

"Sure thing. Now you all get away how ever but first I'm going to the surveillance office and disable the cameras." When I counted to 120 seconds I was given the signal and we were gone. And to our inconvince we had to look for a window, and the nearest one was around the corner and 10 feet. But finally we were out of there. It felt wonderful to have wind rushing past me so fast it was hard to breathe. We got to a resting place and waited for Angel.

"Anyone hungry? I saw a quick mart that would be way too easy to lift from." Fang suggested among the murmurs of the excitement.

"FREAKING STARVING!" Gazzy said which was not in the least bit

surprising. "But now that we are out of there we need to find a

place to stay."

"We should go to the Appalation Mountains, no one will expect it." Nudge said. We all no that Tina Turner is her idol so she would love to go to Tennessee. And we would go to the mountains for safety so I thought "WHAT THE HAY."

Angel mind-tricked some guys at Home Depot to make a house for us and she compelled them to forget the whole thing. We can't have a huge house so two people had to share a room. So it was me and Fang, Nudge and Angel, and Gazzy and Iggy (that's great put the two most

destructive ones in one room). The best part of it all no one would

know where we were. And it was kind of hidden under a canopy of tall

trees, we could fly and no one from the sky could see us. And I doubt

that anyone would climb up there to just to see more mountains. Unless

some hippie got lost; in that case they would just think they are high

or something.

"Finally a bed, with a mattress!" I said flopping down on a black bed (apparently this is meant to be Fang's bed). I must've fallen asleep cause it was like 100 degrees and sweaty when I fell asleep but when I woke up it wasn't freezing but it wasn't hot, kind of perfect. But when I rolled over I saw eyes that were dark and mysterious and beautiful. But they scared me at first.

"What time is it?" I asked my voice all groggy.

"Around 3 or 4." Fang said.

"Really?" I said puzzled. This is very surprise I hardly ever got 5 hours of sleep but never 8 or 9.

"Yeah." he said rather matter of flatly.

"I need to get out of here." Even though we just moved here. I was not fond of closed in spaces.

"Do I need to stay or go with you?"

"I'm just going to the front porch. If you want to come you can."

"I'll go with you." Fang said.

But as soon as I stood up I got dizzy and had to run to the bathroom barely making it to there. Then bleeeh!

"Are you ok?" Fang nearly shouted but didn't want to wake everyone up. Then bleeeh again. Fang came and pulled my hair back and started rubbing my back. And when I finally finished puking. Fang pulled me to my feet and supported me on the sink so he could wash out my mouth.

"I'm… so sorry-."

"Shh. We can still go outside to cool down, if you want." he soothed me.

"Thank you so much."

We must've been out there for 2 hours. Good thing the flock didn't get up 'til like 9 or 10.

"We could start making' breakfast." I stated.

"Ig would know something was up. So let's go lay back down." Fang said as he began to lift me but he didn't just lift up me, he swept me off my feet and carried like a prince carrying his princess. His arms were so comfy and reassuring that I just fell asleep in his arms. I don't now how but I did. I woke to the sound of Iggy making breakfast, but weird thing was no one else was up.

"Need some help?" I asked him. "Ah!" Iggy screamed, Iggy never screams. Then to make it better he grabbed a frying pan.

"Don't sneak upon me like that!" yet again screaming.

"Sorry, but I heard you and thought you might need help, you know cause it's a new kitchen in all." I offered then after a few seconds of silence he finally answered. "Can you 'show' me where the pans are?" he said, reaching out his hand.

"Sure thing." I said, taking his hand.

I took his and let him feel the window above the sink, then moved his hand to the left.

"Thanks."

"I can make the coffee." I offered, because that's what I used to do for Jab before he died.

"Are you going to make bacon?" I asked, because recently I have been craving it like no other.

"Sure... if we got any."

"MORNING!" Gazzy came in behind us and scared me personally, but Iggy must have great hearing or something.

"Hey to you to. You want to set the table?" I said to him, turned around and gave him a big bear hug.

"Sure." then he turned and trotted off.

"I reckon I should rally the troops." I looked at Iggy's unseeing face as if I expected him to look me in the eyes.

"Whatever." he said and shrugged his shoulders.

As I made my way down the hall, right as I was walking past my and Fang's room, Fang walked out and nearly stepped on me and would've if I hadn't made a grunting noise.

"Sorry, are you ok?" he asked and it sounded like he was actually worried.

"Yeah, but don't tell the flock. I don't want them thinking that I'm dying or something."

"Sure." then he made his way to the kitchen. Nudge and Angel's door was the second on the right.

"Up and at 'em." I said in my chirpiest voice. They must've stayed up all night because it was not easy to get them up. I'll use a different

method.

"Breakfast in 10 minutes, if you don't get up we will eat it all and you won't eat until lunch." I said as I folded my arms over my chest and began tapping my foot.

"Come and eat. We got...bacon!" I said in a tantalizing voice.

"Well, if there's bacon I guess I'll get up." Total said. But you know we don't look like we eat as much as we actually do.

"Now that we are all here, Angel, would you say grace?" I said trying to sound mother like, because I mean they never really had one. Which when you think about it is really depressing. And really you don't have to think about it to know it was depressing.

"Sure. Dear Father in Haven hallowed be Thy name..." As she continued on with the Lord's prayer I thought 'How would I feel if someone who was only 8 years or even their own age bossing them, telling them what to do and when. It must be horrible. I know today we will all go out for a fun day!

"Amen, AMEN!" Angel screamed, trying to get my attention.

"Sorry, Angel, everyone eat up because I have got a treat for all of you." and with that Fang shot me a look that said 'what in the world?'.

I waited until everyone was done eating, dressed, and had at least a not to bad hygiene problem. "Everyone in the living room!" I shouted. And almost immediately in there.

"Everyone we are going to the beach!" I announced out of no where. And nearly everyone gave a shriek. At least Fang smiled. But I'm not sure if it was a happy smile or what.

"At least for a week?" Nudge asked.

"Whatever. But better start packing." I said getting everyone pumped up. Within 3 hours we were ready to go. But instead of flying the whole way there we were going to take train. And good thing that trains have bathrooms cause part of the trip, I was there (more bleeehing); I just told the others I was patrolling.

We got a free room for a week thanks to Angel. It was nice and comfy with 3 beds, on the balcony there was a six person hot tub!

"Fang, you're not being fair!" I heard Nudge call from outside the

bathroom door.

"There is no way in Heaven I'm coming out in these...things." Fang called from inside the bathroom.

"THINGS? I tried to pick ones the swim trunks that would brighten you up! Just come out!" She really sounded mad and started banging on the door. Then, I walked up to the door.

"Fang, please just come out I'm getting a headache." I whispered, then turned and winked at Nudge and stepped back. I heard the lock on the door pop as he turned to knob to walk out. And when he did I was actually kind of stunned, they looked great on him. They were red and

blue with big white flowers on them.

"Happy?" He said, obviously he wasn't.

"What about you?" He called out.

"I'm not feeling so hot so I'm going to stay in the room and lay down." I said in all honesty.

"Someone should stay and 'watch' her. Plus I can go get groceries for tonight's dinner." Iggy suggested.

"Fine with me but you can play if you want. I'm ok here." I said.

"I'm staying." He said firmly. Fang ushered everyone out the door. As he did I heard Gazzy shout something 'bout how he wants to see shark.

"So what's on the menu tonight at McIggy's Restaurant?" I asked

"Fish and Chips, I thought would be appropriate." Iggy suggested.

"Good thinking." I said. We decided to walk to the store even though it felt like that every time I took a step my feet gain 10 pounds (of course I didn't let Ig know).

"Are you ok?" Iggy asked quietly.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, you don't sound ok."

"Why do you say that?"

"You're not breathing like you normally do."

"What do you mean? Anyway we are walking. So my body is working and I breathe faster." I said trying to make an excuse.

"We can be flying faster than this and you barely make a sweat."

"What do you mean 'like I normally breathe'?" I asked

"I got to be able to check on you all somehow cause I can't see." He admitted. OMB! That is so sweet! I didn't know he cared that much. Then the moment was interrupted by Fang's ring tone.

"Yellow." I greeted him.

"Where are you? Are you ok? Do I need to come get you two?" Fang's voice just a bit worried.

"Almost to the store, Yes, and No. We left only 3 minutes ago." I said to calm him, because Fang is not the kind of person you want to get

worked up.

"If you're sure."

"Yes, we are fine."

"If your sure." he repeated, cause apparently I didn't get it the first time. "Yes and bye." I said and closed the phone. "Anyway you were saying..."

"I can't just look across the room and see you're still alive, I have to listen to you. I think of it as my special ability. I can tell

everyone's breathing from another."

"We are here, so what exactly is fish and chips?"

"Fish and French fries, I think." We headed toward the deli section and Ig knew what just to ask for, then instead of fries we actually got chips, and Ig bought stuff to make some kind of cake with (yes, we bought with the money we saved from not paying for the room). As we were leaving I got this yucky feeling then I got dizzy thank God that Iggy could hear what was going on, he got me to a bench and we sat down for a minute.

"Are you sure you are ok? And don't lie to me either."

"I honestly don't know, I began to get sick about a month and a half ago, but it's no big it might just be the stomach bug."

"Are you ok to walk?" Iggy asked.

"It doesn't matter if I couldn't; I still have to get back to the flock." I said with a little giggle. But no matter how hard I tried I couldn't keep it in, and say it with me, Bleeeh. Iggy turned around set down the two grocery bags, and wrapped his arms around me and

surrounded me with support and gently we crouched toward the ground. He

still had one arm wrapped his arm around me, but the other was for

pulling my hair back and rub my back. After all the bleehing was over,

we found a water fountain and I rinsed my mouth out. But what happened

next I will never forget Iggy stepped behind me and swept me off my

feet, I laid my head on his shoulder, and still carried the bags. He

carried me all the way to the hotel. We got to the door and he set me

down and I turned around to thank him but he already had a finger up to

silence me. When I opened the door everyone was asleep. That's very

awkward for all of us to be asleep at the same time.

"Ig, everyone's asleep." I said so he wouldn't step on anyone.

"A nap sounds great." he whispered as he flopped down on the couch.

"Move over, I want to watch TV." I whispered back, then he sat up and he leaned his head on the back of the couch. I picked up the remote, sat down, decided to lay my head on his lap, and when I did he began to pet my hair. I flipped through about 30 channels 'til I found my favorite movie of all time: A Walk to Remember. I came in on the when Landon's mom was teaching him how to dance. And I cried when Landon proposed to Jamie, the thing is if you know me I don't cry. But thank God that everyone was asleep. But it was comforting (even though he was asleep) that Ig's arm was around me.

"Are you ok?" Gazzy came up behind me as Landon went to visit Jamie's dad at the end.

"Yeah, are you ok? Normally nothing can make you wake up?" I said trying to distract him while I wiped away my tears.

"I am starving. So I got up." He said in the cutest sleepy voice.

"Want me to cook?" I said sarcastically.

"No, but I'll grab a apple or something, and can I sit with you cause I can't get back to sleep?"

"Sure." I said making room. The couch was freaking huge so I could lie on my side and then he could to. When he did come lay down with me I wrapped my arm around him to keep him warm, and I gave him the remote 'cause I didn't know how long I would be able to stay awake. I woke up to see Fang on the balcony outside the room (but not in the hot tub, to bad for me.) He turned around (obviously he has been checking on Me.) when he saw I was awake he got up and sat on the bed next to the one I was on.

"Morning, sleepy head. Actually it's about 6 p.m." He greeted me

quietly.

"How come everyone is wiped?" I asked.

"We played an intense game of volleyball, boys against girls. "Are you ok?" Fang asked. I rolled over trying to ignore him because I didn't want

him to know just how tired I really was.

"You know you can tell me anything, Maxi." Fang said, I kind of like that nickname. He wasn't taking' no for an answer, because I could feel his eyes piercing me in the back.

"Max, what is wrong I can't fix it if I don't know what's wrong?" Fang said. And when it came to how much he really cared.

I sat up and Fang looked at me.

"Would a dip in the hot tub help?" Fang suggested.

"Sure." I said. Then he got up and headed toward the table and

started going through a Wal*Mart bag. Then he pulled out a...BIKINI?

"Don't look at me like that. I didn't pick it out. Nudge picked out everyone's swimsuit. She picked one that would 'brighten' everyone. "If you don't believe me then come look at this tag it says 'Max' in Nudge's handwriting.'" Fang said blushing hard. I got up, walked passed him, grabbed the bikini, and I headed toward the bathroom to change. This was the most ridiculous thing I had ever seen. Then to make matters worse everyone was getting up. I couldn't stay in here forever, so I came out with stunned eyes all on me.

"Oh my word! YOU LOOK ADORABLE!" Nudge screamed, started jumping, and clapping her hands.

"Everyone get your swimsuits on we are going to go down to the beach." I said to get everyone attention off of me.

"Yay! I can't wait!" Angel said. And her and Nudge ran off into the other room to get their swimsuits.

"Ten minutes then we are going' down." I urged everyone to hurry up. Surprising thing was they were ready in 5 minutes. While I waited I

through my hair in a ponytail to keep it out of my face.

Chapter 2

When we got down there, there were guys looking at me. I hate anyone looks at me, much less a whole freaking beach. Not to mention girls who were snarling and whispering.

"Woot. Woo!" A guy that walked by me called. It took all I had to not punch the crap out of him, I mean, there are children around and for to act like that is unacceptable. I turned around to go back to the room and Fang grabbed my arm.

"You guys go on." I said to the flock and gave Gazzy a quick point to Iggy to let him know I wanted I wanted him to watch out for Ig. As they walked away I turned to give Fang my opinion on a few things. But I waited until the rest of my flock was a few feet away.

"What." I said in very unhappy tone.

"What is your issue lately? You are so hormonal!" Fang shouted at me like it was supposed to hurt.

"Yeah? Well imagine being me! I feel miserable." I shouted back. As some people began to watch, and a lifeguard came up. "Is everything alright, Ma'am? Do I need to take him away?" the

Lifeguard asked while flexing his muscles trying to impress me.

"No, if you touch him either he or I will kick your butt to next

Tuesday. Plus, I'm not impressed by your wimpy little muscle, if you saw

Fang's muscles yours would run away like a miniature pincher from a great Dane."

I shouted, and it drew my attention that Fang had a shirt on, why

does he have a shirt on at the beach?

"I'm sorry that I yelled at you, Fang. But you know I hate when people notice me." I admitted as the lifeguard walked away.

"I know but don't let them get to you? Now how about we go enjoy our time with the flock and have an excellent time." Fang suggested with a hug.

"Sure. I will race you." I said and giggled as I began to run without warning.

"Hey not fair." Fang shouted way behind me.

I can't remember I when last had this much fun without having some natural disaster happening. And Nudge brought 5 one time use cameras. So we had lots of pictures, Even Fang and I let our pictures be taken. We were out there until like 12:00 in the morning. It was great. And instead of making the fish in the hotel we just decided to fry it over as fire. And Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy fell asleep on the beach so Fang, Iggy, and I had to each carry one. I carried Gazzy, Iggy carried Angel, and Fang carried Nudge. I loved how none of us (except for two) were even related we are so tight; I doubt you could find a blood related family that was as tight as us.

When we got back to the hotel we put Angel bunked with Iggy, Fang and Nudge bunked together, and then it was me and Gazzy. We were all asleep within 10 minutes after getting back. This day would go down in history as one of the best days of my life. And to make it even better Gazzy snuggled up to me and I wrapped my arms around him.

"Up and at 'them, Kid." Total came in and greeted me at 8 the next

morning.

"Five more minutes?" I asked with a yawn.

"Nope, five minutes turns into 5 hours with you."

"Fine." I said as I rolled over and sat up my head in my hands. And when I sat up I smelt the most yummy smelling thing I hadn't smelled in 3 years: ginger chocolate chip brownies. I couldn't help it when I smelled them, I just jumped up, through the door open, and sniffed the air.

"Ah...knew it would get you up. Nudge you owe me 5 bucks." Iggy

laughed and pointed to Nudge (must be that whole breathing thing, cause

he pointed right at her.

"OMB! When will they be done?" I asked taking a seat at the table when

Angel crept around the corner and crawled in my lap and laid her head

on my shoulder.

"Morning Sunshine." I said to Angel and gave her a big hug.

"They will be done, lets see... now." Iggy said pulling them out of the oven. He Fang cut it and I got first piece. Angel moved to her own seat now. And when I stood up to put my plate in the sink Gazzy decided it was appropriate timing for one of his unnecessary comments.

"Wow, Max. You need to lay off of the treats your getting fat... I mean a belly." Gazzy said then when he realized what he said he blushed.

"Thanks I will keep it in mind. Hey I need to get out. " I said then grabbed a small bag and walked out the door. Amazingly without slamming it. Not cause of what Gazzy said but I needed time to think. I walked down the beach about 2 miles and I went down to the end of a dock and sat down.

Ok, think, Gazzy hadn't been wrong about me getting a fat, Fang was right I was way to emotional, and Ig was continuously offering to make me some food. Why! Why! Why! I don't understand.

"Max! Max!" I heard Total's voice coming from behind me.

"Total? What are you doing here? How did you find me?" I said and quickly rubbed sweat and tears from my face.

"I followed your scent." He said as he crawled in my lap and turned in my lap 3 times before sitting down. "You know I am fine. You didn't have to come find me." I said as I stood up but I held Total in my arms.

"I know I just come to see if you needed someone to talk to, because I know sometimes you just got to let things out." Total said and cuddled up next to my chest.

"I just don't understand what is going on. I never cry, but in the last week I've cried 5 times. And they just don't understand 'I don't know.' They keep asking and asking and asking. And I'm like 'Yeah, I'm fine' but really I'm not." I said moving my arms around trying to show Total the connection. If their even was a connection.

.


	2. Finally Safe

Chapter 3 Fang POV

"Where in the world is SHE!" I muttered under my breath. I swear if I don't find her I will personally strangle Gazzy. But you know what; Max would've normally just had some comeback and got over it, what is up with her?

"MAX! MAX! MAXIE!" I yelled pointlessly. If Max didn't want found, you couldn't find her even if you had x-ray vision.

"MAXIMUM IRENE RIDE!" that is sure to get her attention, she hates when anyone uses her full name. That was Jeb's mother's name, so when people use it she thinks of Jeb and when she thinks of Jeb she thinks of how he betrayed us.

"WHAT! Fang Stephen Ride?" I heard from behind me and quickly

turned to see Max's smiling face, and don't tell anyone but 1) my heart

was flooded with relief and 2) my heart skipped a few beat when I saw her "every other year" smile.

"Where have you been?" I asked in a not so happy tone.

"Walking my dog, Dad." She said sarcastically. And it made me wonder what were Max's parents like? Were they nice, or kick butt, or just Suburban? She would hate that.

"Were you really upset or did you just have the sudden urge to run out of the room like an idiot?" I asked then regretted it because I knew she would snap, so I prepared myself for the yelling with my arms

crossed over my chest and a mind full of remarks. But instead she

just came closer and gave me a hug. And I hugged her back too.

"Fang, I want to go home." She said with her face buried in my chest.

"Ok." I said and then I gave her a kiss on top of the head, like a comfort kiss. Then we heard music and then I did what I did on a

impulse: I took her hand, I twirled her around, and began dance.

Sometimes it's nice to let Max feel like girl every now and then.

"You are an ok dancer. Where did you learn to dance?" She asked me. But how am I supposed answer that I was watching her when she came home with Iggy from the grocery store, then she began to watch A Walk to

Remember, and I saw when that dude's mom was teaching him how to dance,

Well I paid attention.

"I picked it up somewhere. What about you? You're not half-bad

yourself." I said to distract her.

"I watched it in a movie." She said.

"Which one?" I asked in a quiet voice, even though I already knew. But she didn't say anything, she just laid her head on my chest and we began to slow down. We just kept slowing down, until we were just

standing there looking at the moon. Then we sat down, she laid back on

on me and we were just silent, looking at the moon...still. Soon

all I heard was waves crashing and the light breathing of Max. It was

peaceful, except it was kind of nerving to not see the flock at the slight turn of my head, but also nice because I wasn't having to keep telling everyone to shut up. I was looking at Max, she was

getting...well...fat. It must be from the stress. But the point of the

trip was to help her relax. She began to twitch and act like she was

struggling. Then she actually started kicking around.

"Max, wake up." I said shaking her shoulder slightly. Now she was muttering something.

"Max!" I said even louder.

"FANG!" Max screamed as she woke up.

"I'm right here. Shh." I calmed her and petted her hair.

"It was the dream again…only there was someone else there."

"Who?" I asked.

"I don't know. All I know was that it was a baby." She said.

"A baby?" I asked.

"Yeah. When I woke up I was about to toss you the baby."

"You were going to throw...a baby?" I asked sarcastically.

"Oh shut up. Like I said I want to go home." She said as she began to stand up and dust herself off.

"We'll leave in the morn-" I was cut short by Max.

"No, I want to go now."

"Ok. I'll pack everyone's stuff and see when the next bus is coming by." I suggested.

"No, I want to go now."

"Max, we have to get everyone's stuff, and come on be sensible, we are not going to fly all the way back."

"Fine." She said, and stretched out her hand for me to take it. I reached out for it, she pulled me up, and when she did it looked like

she had a shot of pain was sent through her and I automatically let go,

letting myself fall back.

"What did you do that for?" Max asked.

"Sorry, my hand slipped. Come on lets go." I said as I stood up and headed toward the hotel.


	3. Patience

Chapter 4

Max POV

We got back to the room and I fell over on the bed because I was confused. You may ask, confused about what, and I would say everything. The TV was on, so while I was wondering what was wrong with my life I watched some TV. But it was a movie called "A Cinderella Story", you know the one with Hilary Duff and that really hot guy? It was interesting, the girl named Sam had a pretty messed up life: her dad died, her step mom hated her, and she had to work for no pay at a diner. Which I mean didn't suck as hard as my life but pretty close. But it was worth it because she had good friends, a best guy friend (whose name was Carter), she got her prince, and all before turning 17. Well, that Kind of helped my life look better... 1) I already had my "Carter" 2) I didn't have a mother, let alone a stepmother. I didn't know why I filled my head with silly ideas that would never happen. But tonight when me and Fang were dancing, I bet that's what Sam felt like with Austin, like no one else existed. Then all my thoughts were interrupted by Fang coming into the room with a bag of potato chips and some water.

"I called the bus station and they said that the soonest bus would be around 11 tomorrow." He said as he flopped down beside me.

"Oh man!" I exclaimed and through myself back.

"What's your issue?" Fang asked rather rudely.

"I wish I knew."

"That's what I've heard for the past few months... you need to see a doctor, as much as I hate to say it, but it's true." Fang kept onpushing me.

"NO!" I yelled.

"Yes, Max, you do."

"Fine, but I'm going to someone I know, someone I trust." I said as I made my way to the balcony.

"Wait, Max. Just come back in, get some sleep," Fang whispered. I didn't say anything; I just brushed pasted him, laid down on the bed, and covered up. How can he just from being my best friend to being the overacting dad who has to force me to the doctor? Well, that would normally keep me up all night, but I was out before you could say...

The next thing I remember is Angel waking me up.

"Max, get up. It's 9:30, you still got to take a shower and pack up." Angel said to motivate me to get up. As much as I didn't want to get out of the bed, I wanted to go home, so I got up and staggered to the bathroom. I showered, rinsed my mouth out, and made a desperate attempt at brushing my hair. After a few unmentionable words, Nudge came in, took the brush, and gently began to brush my hair.

"Are we going to be ok?" Nudge asked quietly making sure no one else could hear her.

"What do you mean? Of course, between me, Fang, and Iggy, you will always be safe." I said as I tried to escape from the agonizing pain of my hair being brushed.

"Will you quit moving? And what I meant is, is the flock going to split?" Nudge asked almost with a voice that sounded like she was about to burst out crying if she said another word.

"WHAT! Where did you get such a crazy idea?" I said.

"I don't know. I just don't know." She said as she finished brushing my hair.

"Can you braid it?" I asked to break the awkward silence.

"Really? Can I put pink and blue in with it too?" She asked.

"Sure." I said and gave a slight shrug of my shoulders. And she began to clap her hands and jump up and down and ran out of the room to go get some stuff. Then, a couple of minutes later Iggy walked in, surprisingly not running into something.

"MAX!" Iggy screamed.

"Chill out. I'm right here. What's wrong?" I said over his screaming.

"Tell Nudge she can't just start spraying colors in other people's hair!" He said as both he and Nudge were talking at the same time.

"OK! OK! Tell me what happen. First Iggy." I said sounding all leader like.

"She sprayed pink into my hair! Now I will have orange hair. ORANGE!"

"Well, at least you will be supporting the Vols back home." she said trying to make it up.

"Ok. Nudge don't just spray stuff at people without their permission. Ig try to not freak out. Nudge aren't you supposed to be doing my hair, not his." I said.

"Ok." she said then began to spray temporary color in my hair then braid it and when she did, it looked like blond hair swirled with pink and blue cotton candy. But we all know how Nudge is, when she does something, she goes all the way. So she put me some eyeliner andeye shadow. By the time she finished it was 10.

"If we leave now, we can make it to the station on time." Fang said as he came in, and as he saw me, his jaw gave a little drop.

"Ok. Well let's go." I said then turned around to look in a mirror and what was looking back at me was not the Max I knew. The person I saw had her natural beauty highlighted by two simple things. Wait...Did I just call myself pretty? Well, I guess anything is possible.

"Is everyone ready?" I asked dumbly. And they each picked up their own stuff; because each just had one backpack, except for Nudge who had two. As we were leaving, I took a look back at the room to make sure no one had left anything. But I looked back at the balcony with the hot tub and thought of how we didn't even get into. Dang it.

"The station is about 1 mile." Gazzy said as he looked at a little map. That would be no big whoop. I can fly faster than that. But as I would find out it wasn't so easy. By the time we got to about to a mile and a half, Angel was being carried on Fang's back. And I wasn't doing to good myself. I didn't show it, but I felt like my lungs were the size of a pea and not able to supply enough air for me and I was starving! Not just the bird kid hunger but I mean my body was eating itself hunger, but I know it wasn't. By the time I'd given myself 36 pep talks to keep going on, we were at the station. Then, as if, right on beckoning call, the Announcer said "Eleven o' clock bus to Knoxville, leaving in 10 minutes."

We got our stuff packed-in and we got our seats, everyone was filled with joy when the bus driver said that his wife made hot dogs and sent a cooler full of ice with water bottles. I guess this is God's way of saying, Keep going. Well with the seven of us, we ate 15 hot dogs and we each took an extra water in our bags. We all fell into our seats. Exhausted. I was awake for about 6 hours of the 8-hour trip. But the 2 hours of sleep I got, brought a nightmare back I thought I lost. The Voice.

_Hello, Max. How have you been? Well, this is no time for idle chitchat; I sent you that dream on purpose. Pay attention to detail. This very important. Call Dr. Martinez, don't go to her, have her come to you. Don't be afraid to call Max. You should've called her back at the hotel. But that is the past, your still a child but you've got no __choice now. Just get home safe and be careful who you trust. That's all __for now. Until we meet again. Goodbye and Goodnight Max._

"Ah!" I snapped awake.

"Wow! I was about to wake you up, but you kind of did that already." Fang said.

"Sorry, are we home yet?" I asked with a yawn.

"Waiting for you to get off. We didn't get all the way there but we are going to call a taxi."

"Why don't we fly? We've not in so long. And if we take a taxi it will forever." I suggested.

"Sure but are you up for flying?" He asked worriedly.

"YES! Up and away." I hollered. It felt like a dream to be up there. Well the flight was about 15 minutes and even when we got there I just dropped my bag on the porch and kept going. I couldn't believe how wonderful it felt to be the icy, frigid air. I could hardly breathe, but it was ok. I finally got to a place with cell reception, and then I called Dr. Martinez. I went to a nearby phone booth and I closed myself inside of it to ensure no one but me could hear my conversation.

*Beep*Beep*Beep* - *Beep*Beep*Beep* - *Beep*Beep*Beep*Beep*. I dialed her number but I almost wanted to hang up but she answered before I could.

"Hello? May I help you?" She said.

"Hey, Dr. Martinez. It's me Max. And yes, I need your help." I said.

"Oh my goodness, Max. How are you? Are you hurt?" she quickly assumed.

"I don't know, that's why I called. Can you make a special trip?" I asked, and I kind of felt embarrassed.

"Yeah. Sure, just tell me when and I will make an appointment."

"I was kind of hoping you could come as soon as possible." I asked and I felt horrible, like I'm the one who owes her a favor, and I did.

"Sure, I can grab the next flight out. And where would you like to meet?"

"Can you get to Cool Rivers Airport? Well, I'll meet you at the airport. Just call to this number when you get here. Ok?" I said and gave her specific instructions.

"I'll hop on the next available flight and be there as soon as possible." she said on return.

"If it's not to much trouble. Please, don't rush and get here. Take your time. Be safe."

"Don't be ridiculous, Max. You're like a daughter to me." when she said that I felt special, I mean because I never had a mom.

"Thanks. See you then. Bye." I said then I hung up and released myself from the small prison of a phone booth. For some reason I feel like something is moving and rearranging my insides around and around. I went ahead to the airport so she didn't have to wait for me and I thought it would be boring an' all but it really wasn't. Granted my stomach hurt but I walked around with my hands over my stomach. I looked at the cool water fountain, looked at some artwork, and I even watched the sun set. After a while it started to get hot so I took my jacket off and tied it around my waist. I grabbed a bit to eat and sat around some more and looked at some more art. But while I was looking around I came upon a bathroom and I thought: 'Well, she is coming all this way for. At least I could try to smooth my hair and look half way decent.' I still had the braid that Nudge had put in but with a few wild strands. But as I was leaving the bathroom heard a noise from the Men's' room calling for help. So I, being the curious type that I am, had to check it out.

"Hello?" I called out. Then I heard a cough, which startled me and I jumped. I whipped my head around to see an old man on the floor. When I went over to help him I slipped or tripped, I don't know which, but I caught my grip on the sink but before I did my wings burst out from out of my shirt, and the old man saw them. But I quickly tucked them behind me and I threw my jacket on.

"Are you ok?" I asked as I check to see if there were any obvious wounds.

"Are you an angel? Am I going to die?" He asked. But there were no wounds probably a broken hip or something like that.

"No and no. Can you tell me what happened?" I replied with a smile trying to make him feel better.

"I slipped on the wet floor. It was just freshly mopped. And I didn't pay attention." He said.

"I'm going to go get help. Just stay here, Don't try to move"

"No matter what, you will always be my angel. You were sent here on purpose. Thank you." He spoke with struggle.

"Don't strain yourself. And thank you." and I went to go get an airport work and I got one and sent him to where the elderly man was. You know wonder if what that man said was true. I look like an angel to him.

I had been here awhile so I hoped that she would arrive soon. I soon found a bench with a seat, so I sat there and sat. Eventually, I fell asleep, but not for too long. I was woke up by shaking of my shoulder by Dr. Martinez.

"Hello. Sorry I took a so long I had to take Ella to her Aunt's house, then I had to make my rounds, an-" I had to cut her short.

"It's ok. It doesn't matter as long as your here." I said to keep her from going on.

"So you want to grab some breakfast and we can talk about why I'm here." she offered.

"Sounds great." I returned. We chose Shoney's. We talk about a little bit of everything. Then we got down to business.

"Max, you didn't call me all the way from Arizona to have some food, did you?" she asked.

"No. I think I may be sick or something. I think I need to have some exams done and you're the only doctor I trust." I said as I twirled some eggs around my plate.

"What kind of sick do you think?"

"I don't know." I replied barely being audible.

"Well, I can get into a hospital. And I can get permission to use their equipment." She posed.

"How long until you can get a hold of that?" I asked with as much patience as I could.


	4. Unexpected Happiness

Chapter 5

While Dr. Martinez went to the hospital and tried to get the equipment, I went home and told Fang where I was and where I was going and I packed a few provisions. I told him I didn't know how long I would be gone and to watch the flock, make sure everyone get to bed, and all the usual things. Dr. Martinez had me meet her at a little animal hospital in the middle of town. She had me meet her on the 6th floor, good thing I'm not afraid of heights.

"Max, Can you take a shower the put this gown on? I'm going to do a full exam for you. Ok?" She said and handed me a gown and luckily it had a back to it.

"Sure." I said and walked to the bathroom to take care of business and put my gown on. I took my shower in less than 10 minutes, dried my hair and body in less than 5, and was ready for whatever... never. Dr. Martinez had me bring along Total as a diversion. They can't just have people coming in having exams in animal hospitals.

"Thanks for coming, Total." I said as I went an laid out on the makeshift bed on the exam table.

"Anytime, Max." He said and jumped onto a dog bed that was in the corner.

"Max, Are you ready?" Dr. Martinez said.

"As I'll ever be."

"Well, I have to give you an IV, this will keep you hydrated and I will give you the sedative through it." She said and gave a nod of reassurance and took the IV tube and injected the needle into it.

"How long will I be out?" I asked.

"No telling." As she said that things began to get fuzzy then loopy then just black.

I woke up and it was 10:35 p.m., Total was asleep in the corner, and I wasn't where I fell asleep instead it looked more like a motel, a clean one at that. I didn't have an IV or anything. But the aroma of chocolate chip cookies filled the making me hungry. I wondered to the kitchen and only to find Dr. Martinez in there sitting at the table behind a Sunday paper.

"Hello. How are you?" I asked in gruff voice. And by the looks of it I startled her.

"Hey. How are you feeling? Are you hungry?" She hastily pushed the questions at me.

"I'm Ok. And yes I'm hungry." I answered.

"Here. Have some of these, I pulled them out of the oven 10 minutes ago.

"Thanks. So, did you see anything wrong with me? Or what?" I asked to keep the conversation going.

"Your welcome. And I wouldn't save something's wrong or bad. Just unusual. Well, Some say a picture is worth a thousand words." She said as she grabbed her briefcase and pulled out a folder with my name on it.

"Oh my goodness. Do... do I have cancer?" I said in a shaky voice and reaching for the chair for support. She gave a quick little laugh and then caught herself and straightened herself out.

"No. Much happier than cancer." Then she put some kind of picture in front of me, I had to adjust to see it but when I did I nearly fell backwards. I saw a picture of a small crunched up person and at the top there was writing that said: "28 weeks".

"Are you sure you didn't pick up the wrong one?"

"You know you have other options, don't you?" She said and gave me raised eyebrow.

"Are you suggesting abortion? Ok. Maybe I can kill someone who has tried to kill me more than 3 times no sweat. But killing someone who hasn't even had the chance to see daylight? Inhale the amazing aroma of chocolate chip cookies or the way it smells after a rain. Or just even live?" I said almost screaming.

"That or putting it up for adoption. I would be more than happy to take the baby for you." She suggested and for a moment I thought about it but I need to go home.

"But if you want to keep him-" She tried to say but I cut her short.

"Him?" I said then sat back down and I took another bite of cookie.

"Yes and as I was saying I could send you some of Ella's old stuff and I have a few nephews, I'm sure they will give me their old stuff for you."

"Thanks but I need to think about this for awhile I will call you and let you know what I decide. But for now I just want to go home." I said and went to pick up my jacket and Total and headed for the door when Dr. Martinez had a few more words to say to me.

"Can I at least have your address so I can mail you and keep a check up on you? I need it so I keep in touch with you and you keep in touch with me?" She had already wrote hers down and I took it. She handed me a piece of paper and a pen, and I scribbled down our address. Even though we were the only ones who live on that street.

I couldn't stay in that room any longer I ran out of the door and I couldn't get away fast enough. I walked down the street a little ways and I tucked Total in my jacket and zipped it up so I could put my hands in my pockets. But when I did I felt paper neatly folded in my pocket and I pulled it out; turns out Dr. Martinez had put 50 bucks in my pocket when I was asleep. I thought I might as well get some food for the flock while I was out so I went to the store and picked up peanut butter and jelly, bread, milk, some plastic cups and plates.

By the time I got home it was 3:00 a.m. But I let Total out of my jacket and then I put the groceries away, picked up the house a little bit, and put the ultrasound on top of the fridge. Then when I was done I just flopped down on the couch and when I did I got the hebbie jebbies scared out of me because I landed on top of someone. It was Fang, of course.

"Ouch. And nice to see you to. How was it?" Fang said.

"Fang, you'll never believe what happened." I said as I stood up to go get the ultrasound but I was so scared to show him. He might get mad or even leave the flock and never return, so I just put it back down and turned back to talk to him.

"Let's go to bed. It's been a long night. We'll talk in the morning." I suggested and started to walk toward the hall to the bedroom.

"What? You think you can just start like that and leave me to hang? I stayed up all night waiting for you! Ok. I'm sorry I was just worried about you, I don't mean to yell. Let's go to bed." Fang said and he took me by the hand and we began to walk down the hall when I decided I had to tell him.

"Wait. Come with me." I said as I pulled his hand toward the kitchen and I made him sit at the table. And I got the pictures again. As I pulled them out of the envelope, my heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. I put the picture in front of him then reached over to cut the light on because the moon's light was not cutting it. When I did Fang's face was expressionless.

"Is it yours? Are you sure? When did this happen? With who?" He said without even noticing how many questions he was asking.

"Yes, he is mine. And yes. I don't know. And I have no earthly idea." I said.

"He?" Fang asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"Who all knows?"

"Just Dr. Martinez, me, and you. Please, don't tell anyone. I'm not sure I want them to know yet." I said as I stood up.

"I'm going to bed, are you coming?" Fang said with an outstretched hand.

"Yeah." I answered and took his hand again. Neither of us fell asleep immediately. And to tell the truth I was lonely, and I kept tossing and turning. Then I could feel movement so I put my hand on my tummy to see if I could feel him. By the way what am I supposed to name him? Robert? Daniel? Michael? George? Oh well, I'll think of something but right now. Goodnight world.

I'm still trying to figure out some things on here so if I don't answer a direct question it's not discrimination just confusion. And some have asked me questions that will be answered later on so be patient. Thank you. I want to know what ya'll think so leave me a review or email me. Thanks for reading! ^_^.


	5. Realizations

Chapter 6

Surprisingly I woke up before anyone else and it was around 8:00. I went out to the porch and sat for a while; I watched the sunrise and thought about...him. I'm not sure if I should feel happy or sad. Happy because all babies are wonderful. And sad because who could feel safe about bringing a baby into this unsafe and unreliable world? I just don't know about anything anymore.

"Morning. How are you?" Fang came out from behind me, wrapped his arms around me and planted a big warm kiss on my cheek.

"I'm ok. How are you?" I said and took a seat next to me. Wow. He really needs a haircut.

"I'm fine." He said with a big yawn.

"Are the others up yet?" I asked.

"They're rousing up." He said and stood up to stretch.

"Max, how are you going to tell them?"

"With a little hole in the center of my face." I said laughingly. As hard as it was, I had to tell everyone in a family meeting. But you know what never occurred to me, How did this happen? I may not be the smartest person in the world but I know babies don't just pop up out of nowhere. I have to find out but not right now.

"Ok guys, well, I've got to tell you all something." I really didn't say anything just held up the picture for everyone to see. And all around there were gasps. This was better than my original expectation.

"WHAT? What's going on?" Iggy asked in a worried tone.

"Ig, I'm pregnant." I said. Wow. That's the first time I've admitted it.

"Wow, well. Fang, you've finally done it. You're in trouble this time." Iggy said trying not to laugh.

"IGGY!" both Fang and me exclaimed.

"Look they even talk at the same time." Iggy said nudging Gazzy on the shoulder.

"You know what, Iggy. I've never done it, especially with Fang! And also, it would help if you had my back!"

"Geez. Chill out. I was only kidding." Iggy said in his defense.

"Dude, that's not cool. We have respect for you and you should have respect for us." Fang said to even out the pressure.

"What is the baby going to be boy or girl?" Gazzy asked.

"Boy." I answered.

"Oh my goodness! What are we going to name him? Oh, I know, Bryan Jordan Tyler Jessie Michael."

"Um, we'll talk about it. But for right now let's get some grub." And with that, all of them made their way to the kitchen. All but Iggy.

"You know, Max, I didn't mean to offend you. I just thought of that and didn't think before I said anything. Please forgive me." He said and made praying hands in front of him as if he were begging.

"I'm not mad at you, I actually expected much worse. I was just embarrassed." I said wrapped my arm around his waist and he did the same to mine and walked to the kitchen.

"Fang, can I talk to you privately?" I asked.

"Sure." He said and threw a grape up in the air to catch with his mouth and jumped down off the counter. We walked out to the front porch and sat with our feet hanging of the porch with our feet about 4 feet off the ground.

"What's up?" He asked.

"I've been thinking, we need to need to get jobs. We can't support a whole family and a baby. I thought maybe like a gas station, McDonalds, or something to that affect. We can't just barely get by any more." I said.

"Ok. When should we begin to look?"

"The sooner the better." I said and shrugged my shoulders.

We got back up and announced what we were doing and how long we planned to be out. We agreed that Iggy is in charge but Nudge is to look out over everyone for Iggy. We flew part way and walk the other. We stopped at 20 different places for applications. We decided to just take them home and fill them out there. We were back not long after we told them we'd be back. They were stretched out in different places in the living room. Nudge and Angel were on the couch, Gazzy was on the floor, and Iggy was in the recliner. Iggy, Gazzy and Angel were asleep, but Nudge was nodding off but she had a book in her hands, she must've beenreading to them. I took Angel and Nudge to their room and dressed them for bed while Fang helped Gazzy.

"Now you need to get to bed." Fang said. Then we made our way down the hall to the room.

"Fine." I said with a sigh. I got to my bed and began relax then out of nowhere I could feel this movement inside of me and on an impulse I let my hand lay on top of my stomach. I couldn't believe this, I could feel him in there moving around.

"Fang, Fang, Come here." I said in a loud whisper and sat up. And he jumped to my side as if something was wrong.

"What? Are you ok?" He said and sat one his knees in front of me.

"Yes. I'm fine. Give me your hand." I said and he put his arm in front of me, I took his hand and gently placed it on my stomach. And I could tell when he felt because I felt it too.

"Oh. Wow. Is that him?" He asked and I gave a little nod. It's kind of great ,you know, to be in this great place, and to be with my family. He just left his hand there, and I admit it was weird but funny to see this quiet strong guy swoon over a baby. But I don't understand how this happened, Wait let's see how long it's been since we broke out of the Lab. I began counting on my fingers and it was 20 weeks ago. Oh goodness, you don't think, would they?

"Fang. You don't think that the White coats would do something like this would they?" I asked placing a reassuring hand over my tummy.

"You never know."

"We should ask Angel." I said and leaned forward so that our foreheads were touching.

"Tomorrow." He said, got up in his bed, and was asleep within 10 minutes. Ok, this is weird Fang in bed and asleep by 11:00? Well, it's been a rough week for all of us. I should enjoy some sleep to. I woke up again at about 7:30, and every much to my surprise Angel was up.

"Morning, Angel." I greeted her in a sandpapery voice.

"Hello." She said in a distant tone, like she barely knew me.

"Hey, Angel, Can I ask you a question and you be completely honest?"

"About what?" She said as she poured some milk in small cup.

"About the White coats."

"What about them?"

"While we were in there did they 'experiment' on me especially?" I said as I pointed to myself.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean did they put this baby in me?" well I kind of just put it out there.

"Well, maybe, I'm not sure."

"Angel?" I said in a firm voice.

"They said they weren't positive if it would work. And it was highly doubtable." She said in a shaky tone.

"And you didn't think to tell me? You know that's one of those things you bring up, like when someone has something in their teeth and they're about to take a school picture or they got toilet paper on their shoe. Only this is that times 100!" I was screaming by this point and the other came in to see what the commotion was about.

Fang had to pull me from the room and pulled me back into our room. And I was furious my whole body was hotter than Satan's toenails, and I was trembling from all the anger. Fang sat me on the bed and he sat next me.

"Tell me what happened." He said in a low voice.

"She knew the whole time."

"Knew what?"

"That they did this to me. But why? They don't just go around giving out babies. They have a plan most likely."

"A plan to what?"

"They're going to take him back. I just know it!" I said in a sob. We sat there and Fang tried his best to calm me down.

"Hey. Calm down." He said grabbing me by both of my arms firmly and looked me straight in the eyes. "But I'm scared."

"I know. But right now you have got to be strong." He said and we sat in silence for a few minutes as he handed me a few more tissues.

"So what are we going to call him? Nemo?" Fang asked giving a little laugh.

"Um. Fang Jr. or Iggy Jr. Wait, I like Figgy and a nickname can be Fig."

"Ok? Then Figgy it is." He said and both laughed.

"Are you going to stay in here all morning?" He said.

"I guess we could fill out those applications." I to avoid thinking about being out there with Angel. I couldn't believe her. I mean how could you not tell someone that.

Thanks again. You are the best if you have put up with me this long. Let me know what you think. ^_^.


	6. Gifts

Chapter 7

Max POV

I walked out of the room and straight to the living room where the applications were. I plopped down on the couch next to Fang and we

began to fill out applications. We, of course, didn't put all the right

information like: Fang changed his name to Tyler and I changed mine to

Jordan and we said our age was 16. But not that many changes. I can't

stop thinking about Figgy, who gave DNA for him. I couldn't stand not

to know who. I have to ask her. We filled out applications for at least

2 hours. And there was a smell flowing from the kitchen and I'm not

sure if it was appetizing or not. So I had to see what it was and plus

I was starving.

"Hey, what ya got cooking?" I said as came up behind Iggy.

"What you need to be eating." He said and turned around with a plate of vegetables and small amount of meat.

"Um. What is that?"

"Steamed zucchini, carrots, broccoli and chicken all topped with melted cheddar cheese." He said with a satisfied smile.

"Wow. I can't believe this. It's so wonderful." I said stuffing my mouth with it. Then Iggy turned slightly to hear my every "yum" and

sigh of satisfaction. The oven beeped and Iggy opened it up and pulled

out a pizza and yelled for everyone to eat.

"Coming!" everyone yelled from the living room. I finished my plate and threw it gently into the sink and I took off to the living room.

"Your food is getting cold, people." Ig said. Then a breeze of people swooshes by me.

As everyone ate I finished the last of my applications. And by the time I did it was 11:30. Time just goes by so slowly. Just like a

creeper. I wondered what people do on days like this when it's to

pretty to stay in. Oh! I got it we took that volleyball from the beach.

We can play with that.

I let them rest for a little while then we went outside and played. They played; I couldn't because it would be stupid to. I enjoyed

keeping score though. It was boys against girls and since there was one

girl missing, Iggy decided to sit down. Not because he was blind, do

not mistake one thing for the other. In fact, we were out there so long

that the sun was about to set. We were positively sunburned.

"We need some of that aloe vera stuff for burns." Gazzy said trying to rotate his arm without pain. Everyone, but me and Iggy because we sat in the shade, were sunburned.

"Why don't you, Nudge, and Angel go to the store and get some?" I asked Fang.

"Sure," He said, "Want me to drop off those applications while I'm out?"

"If you want." I said and reach them to him.

"Be back soon. Iggy, Gazzy, watch her now." Fang said with a quick wink.

"Yeah right!" I said with laugh at the end. Then I sat down in the recliner.

"So what you want to do?" Gazzy asked plopping down in front of me.

"I don't know. What do you want to do?" I asked as I reached down to pull him up on my lap.

"Sleep." He said with a huge yawn.

"Ok." I said as I began to rock him back and forth. And not to much time went by and he was asleep and snoring.

"I wish I could fall asleep like that." Iggy whispered while feeling for the couch.

"To your left, Ig."

"Oh. Thanks." He said turning to his left.

"You know I wonder why we haven't had any attacks for the Erasers lately." I asked.

"I don't know." He said and sat down with basket of laundry to fold. I wonder how he does that.

"I'm going to put him in his bed." I whispered to Iggy as I stood up.

"Ok but I can do it if you want." He offered.

"No, I'm ok." I said and walked down the hall and as I walked passed Nudge and Angel's room and I saw that their walls were covered with the pictures from the beach. I went and put Gaz to bed so I could come back and look. And my mind was baffled by how many there was. There was one of me and Gazzy sleeping together, and Iggy and Angel sleeping, a bunch of us all on the beach, some of us playing in the room, and even though there were lots of them there was one that stood out to me. It was a picture of all of us just playing together, and I took it off the wall and brought it back to the living room to put it on the wall above the light switch so that everyone could see it and be reminded of how, even though we are not related, we are family.

But I was tired too so I told Iggy to go to bed since I was to. I went back to my room and laid down on my bed and not to long and I was asleep. I didn't have a dream; it was just that dark hollow place you go when you can't dream.

I was asleep until 9 in the morning, and I knew if didn't make any noise I wouldn't wake up the others. If you know me then you know that I don't like staying put very long and so I went for a nice walk

through the mountains. I walked through so little streams, found a

strawberry patch, and a apple tree, but the best part was I found a

crystal clear lake and it wasn't even a mile from where we lived, how

did we not notice this before. But I kept on walking until I began to

get hungry so I picked a few apples and strawberries, but I couldn't

wait to get home so I washed an apple in the lake and carried the rest.

The apple was so yummy and crunchy. I wonder if we should go check on

those applications that Fang turned in. I made my way back to the house

and as I did it was noticing sorts of new things like new birds,

types of berries, and different things. I was to were I could hear

screaming coming from the house.

"What's going on?" I asked as Fang was ranting down the hall.

"Where have you been?" He asked.

"For a walk. Why?"

"I didn't know where you were."

"Do I have to check in with you every time I do something?"

"Uh. Yeah. You kind of do."

"I'm not defenseless. I can still protect myself."

"Just let me know where you are next time."

"Whatever." I said waving my hand carelessly, and I walked away toward the couch. I tried not to show it but I was hurting and no one knew what I was going through. I mean not many 14 year olds were pregnant.

"Hey, we should go check on those applications." Fang said and came by and sat down next to me.

"Sure. Let's do this." I said and stood up and would've fallen back if it were not for Fang.

"You ok?" He asked coming up to my level.

"Yeah. Let's just go."

We found out that 4 people wanted to interview Fang, and 3

wanted to interview me but 1 of them said they would hire me on the

spot and start tomorrow at 10. It was that little gas station at the

bottom of the hill with a sign saying: Last Chance Gas. And it was

only a 5 to 10 minute flight.

"Well. This has been a productive day." I said as I wrapped my arm around his waist and he did the same to me.

"Let's grab some ice cream to celebrate." Fang suggested and I agreed and we got chocolate with marshmallows. And it was gone before you could say 'Hello, we got ice cream'.

"Thanks Fax. Oh my goodness. I meant to say Fang and Max but it came out Fax." Nudge said while laughing loudly.

Then we heard a knock at the door and I hopped up to see what it was but kind of freaked because not any just roams through the mountains at night. It was just the mailman. He left a package on the porch. I

pulled it in and quickly began to unwrap it. You want to to guess what it

was? It was a box of baby clothes. Nudge quickly came over to began

assembling outfits.

"Who sent you these?" Some of the flock asked.

"My doctor friend." I told them.

Thanks for reading. Leave me a review and let me know what you thought.

^_^Kiss. Kiss.


	7. First Day

Chapter 8

Max POV

"Oh. Yeah, the one you met that time you saved that one girl?" Angel asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"We can just put them in my closet. And I'll take them because I have to go to bed anyway." I said and lifted the box slowly and put the box in my closet and fell over on Fang's bed. Yes, Fang's bed. I just love that smell, the way a forest smells, like dirt and fresh water. I fell asleep thinking on these thoughts and I had a dream where I was just sitting in a chair and watching my family play safely without me having to worry about anyone attacking us. It was so nice that even in my dream I began to cry but I eventually got over it and went and played with them. So needless to say I was in a good mood when I got up. And when I got up Fang had his arm wrapped around me and over my tummy. It was sweet. I tried to slip away without waking him up and I did but when I was getting dressed for work I had a wardrobe malfunction. None of my pants were fitting me. I tried and tried until I thought of Nudge's sweat pants. Yes! Perfect! So I slipped into the laundry room and took a pair that stopped at the knee and had an adjustable waist band then I looked for nice looking t-shirt. I found one that fit me kind of snug but it was tye-dye. It showed by stomach but I was ashamed of him. Speaking of him, he and I are starving. I dug through the fridge and found some cold pizza, it would be suffice.

"Morning. How are you? Are you ok? I heard lots of grunting and sighing." Fang said and made his way to the coffee maker.

"I'm good. And yes I'm fine. None of my pants are fitting me. So I had to steal some sweatpants form Nudge." I said taking a sip of his coffee that he had just sat down with.

"Yeah. I figured when I saw all your pants strung all over the place that something was up." Fang replied while stirring and blowing on his coffee.

"You know, ice would help." I said and stood up went to the freezer and pulled out 2 pieces of ice and walked over to Fang and put them in his cup.

"Thanks." He said and I bent over and gave him a slight kiss on top of the head.

"I got to head to work. Tell everyone I will be home soon and if they need me call me." I said and waved at him when I noticed the picture above the light switch. I remembered how special this was to me so I folded it up and put it in my back pocket.

"See ya later. You want me to go with there and then when it's time to get off you want me to come get you?" Fang asked and in a very serious tone.

"You can go with me but I don't know when I will be getting off." I said and kept on walking. I got a running start then jumped off the porch then swooshed up into the air. Fang flew next to me and when we got close enough we dropped to the ground. But not long until my stomach was churning. But we made it there but no one else was so Fang and I sat on the sidewalk next to the store. We sat there for about 20 minutes good thing I put a jacket on because it was a little chilly. Then the manager that hired me pulled up in his car. And out stepped a man who was about 39 and balding.

"I'm so sorry...um... I'm sorry again I forgot your name." He said.

"I'm Jordan." I said and reach out my hand for him to shake.

"Hi Jordan, I'm Steve. And who is this young man?" He said and shook my hand.

"This is my best friend Tyler." I said and ushered him to shake Steve's hand.

"So, this is why I'm late." He said and reached in his pocket and pulled out a key.

"Here I made you a spare because most of the time." and He reach out his hand to give it to me.

"Thanks." and then He walked over and opened the door and went in but I stayed behind to bid Fang a farewell.

"I'll see you later." I said and he gave me a kiss.

"Bye." He said and watched me go into the building and I waved to him. I just can't stand being left without him but I know it will be over soon. It was so hot in there that I took off my jacket and rolled my sleeves up. And when Steve turned around he was in for a big surprise.

"OH! Wow! I didn't know you were...um... pregnant. How old are you?" Steve said with wide eyes.

"Sixteen." I said trying to remember what age I put on the application. But I'm really 14.

"And is Tyler the daddy?"

"WHAT? No! No. He is just a good friend; we've known each other since forever." I said and covered my face to hide my blushing.

"Well, who is?"

"I don't know. All I know was it was involuntary." I said.

"Oh. I didn't know. I didn't mean to assume anything. I'm so sorry. Are you ok? Do you need a place to stay?" He offered.

"It's ok. I don't as long as I have this job."

"You and I will be going back between stocking the shelves, cleaning, or register. It's all pretty simple. The janitor's closet is next to the bathroom. And everything else is pretty much self explanatory and if you need anything just come find me."

"Ok. I got that."

"Ok. Then if it's not too much, can you start stocking shelves?"

"Sure. With what?"

"Here let's go to the back and get some boxes. Follow me."

"Ok." I said and from then on the day went smoothly except for a few minor problems. And when 7 came around, Steve said it was time to close up shop. We counted the money and cleaned a little. And we were out of there by 7:45.

"Do you need a ride home?" Steve asked kindly.

"No, I just live up this hill. I should be fine. But thanks. See you tomorrow."

"Bright and early." He said with a little chuckle and hopped into his car. But I wished I could've taken that offer on the, but me being the paranoid person I am didn't. I decided to walk because flying would take more energy but it took longer. I wonder how much Fang is freaking out when I thought this I had to laugh. And not to mention the many breaks I had to take because I was being torn up on the inside. When I got close to the house started to feel even worse. I had horrible back pain and fatigue. But I made my way home safely just hurting.

"I'm home." I said and knocked on the door intently.

"Hey." Gazzy said with a smile.

"Hey, baby boy." I said and bent down to give him a hug.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

"I don't know." He said and shrugged.

"You don't know? I asked in a hesitant voice.

"Just follow me" He said and began to pull on my hand and he led me to a dark kitchen without warning the light flickered on and everyone jumped out at me and yelled at me.

"SURPRISE!" everyone jumped up and Iggy held a sign that said 'Happy first full day of work!'

"Oh. Thanks guys." I said.

"One more surprise." Fang said and took me by both hands and Nudge covered my eyes.

"Ok. Open them now." Fang said in a cheer voice and when I did there was a beautiful baby crib at the end of my bed. I began to cry when I realized just how much my family loved me. I leaned on Fang for support, I didn't need it but I just wanted to feel him there.

"I thought you might want him in here with you. So we set it up it up in here." Angel said.

"Than-Thank you so much." I said and made my way around to give everyone hugs, I even gave Angel one.

"Lets get some cake." Iggy said with clapping hands. You want to know what was ironic. The cake had stork on it with a baby in its sack.

"Iggy, that is beautiful. I love you all so much. Ya'll never cease to amaze me with all you can do." I said wiping some tears from my face. We had a rather wonderful night once I got to sit down. We had a all night party, but all really did was watch some movies, eat, and talk about all the fun times we had through the years. Slowly but surely people began to go to bed. Soon, as typical, all that was awake was Iggy, Fang and me. When we all agreed to go to bed Fang went ahead of me so me and Iggy began to pick up the mess.

"Oh my goodness. Iggy give me your hand." I said quickly and he reach out his hand and I placed it on my belly where he could feel the baby moving.

"That's amazing." And that's all he said and his sightless eyes teared up.

"Ig, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Iggy, tell me. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. But I know how beautiful this baby is going to be, because I remember how beautiful his mother was but I will never be able to see him. You just don't know what it's like to be me." He said and we sat down on the couch and we both sobbed.

"I'm sorry, Ig. I just took that into consideration. And I thought that you might enjoy feeling him." I said and began to cry too.

"It's going to be ok, Ig. One day you will meet a girl who will love you for who you are. And you won't even have to see her to know she is beautiful. Have no doubt, is she hurts you, me and the rest of the flock will be there in 2 seconds with razors and lemon juice." I said and we both laughed through the sniffles.

"I love you, Iggy. Let's get to bed." I said.

"I love you too, Max." He said and I gave him a big hug, and then he did the cutest thing, he rubbed my belly and told the baby goodnight. I just adored that. In fact, I thought on it for a while.

"Oh. He likes when you do that." I told Ig, and we chuckled. Then we finally went to bed even though we laughed the way there. But I made sure he made it into his room. Then went into my room to gently sat down and made rings around my belly with my finger.

"So how was your first day?" Fang asked while he sat up with his back on the wall.

"It was good, with a few minor exceptions." I said with this horribly huge grin over my face while kept gently tracing small circles around my belly.

"Being?" Fang asked with one raised eyebrow.

"Just a few judgmental people judging me being my age and pregnant." I said and switched from tracing my stomach to rubbing it and humming.

"You are in a good mood." He said.

"I know but what isn't there to be happy about?" I asked.

"Ok." He said with shrugged shoulders.

"I will never get used to feeling him kick." I said almost in a shrill.

"Can I?" Fang asked nodding toward the baby.

"Sure." I said and I reached for his hand and I pulled him over to the bed with me. I know he felt him move because when he did he let out the biggest smile in the world. And Fang was so adorable right now, and I couldn't help myself I kind of just kissed him on the lips.

"That's a goodnight kiss. So goodnight." I said and stood up and flipped the light switch off and laid back in bed, but we all know that wasn't a goodnight kiss. I just curled up in my covers and thought of all of the days events and I was pleased with my life. For once.


	8. Imperfections

Chapter 9: Imperfections.

Fang POV

I didn't show it but I was way overexcited about Max's baby. I also couldn't believe that she had to take this role at her age. But she has had it for 14 years. So I guess we'll be ok. We managed somehow and

now we are older so we are fine. Well, I've been lying in bed all

morning and plus I should probably wake up Max. But she looked so

pretty with Total at her feet and her hair all in a mess, I didn't want

to wake her but she had to get ready and I going for interview.

"Wakey, wakey, Max." I said brushed some hair from her face. She gave a little snarl but sat up stumbled toward the kitchen and sat down at the table and laid her head on the table.

"Hungry?" I asked and rubbed her back gently.

"No." She said and sounded like she was going to be sick.

"No? Are you sure you are for going to work?"

"I have to. I'm fine. It's just morning sickness."

"Want something to drink?" I asked and sat down next to her and laid my head down so I could make eye contact with her.

"Milk." She said and was still rubbing her eyes to wake up.

"Ok." I said and without hesitation I jumped up to go get her some milk. I poured only a little because I knew she would barely drink it.

"I can go with to work because I have to for interviews." I said.

"I've got to get dressed." Max grumbled.

"I washed a lot of sweatpants last night." I said and handed her a pair that was black and calf length.

"Thanks." She said and went to the bathroom. Since she didn't drink her milk I did and got brain freeze. "We got to leave in 30 minutes." Max said and came in with her hair in a messy bun and laid down gently on the couch.

"I'm going to get ready, you just lay there." I said stupidly.

"Whatever." She said and cuddled up with a pillow. I was ready and

went to go get Max and I found her crying.

"Max. What is wrong?" I tried to talk in my most soothing voice.

"Me and Iggy were talking last night, and he got all upset because he said he will never get to see Fig. And it just hurts me to think it's my fault for letting that happen to him. If I had just protected him better he would've never ended up like this." She said through her tears. I took her face in both of my hands and made her look at me even though I would be blurry through her tears.

"Max. It's ok. It's not your fault. Shh. Calm down." I said and sat down next to her and let nestle her face into my shirt.

"Come on. Show me that big beautiful smile of yours." I said and

wiped some of her tears away with my sleeve.

"Let's get going. But can we walk." She said.

"Ok." I said and we began to walk out of the house and through the foggy woods.

"You know what just occurred to me?" She asked.

"What?"

"It's been 2 weeks since Dr. Martinez felt and let's see I was 28

weeks. And add 2 to 28 that's 30, and let's see there are about 4 to 5

weeks in a month. I'm 6 months." She said trying to smile but

unsuccessfully.

"Already," I asked in disbelief, "Time sure does fly."

"Not if you're me." She retorted.

"Want me to carry you?"

"Yeah." Max replied. I stopped and bent down so that she could piggy back on me. I carried her for 5 minutes but hen put her down. We sat for 2 minutes after that.

"Ok. Let's go. I'm going to be late." She said in a very determined voice. She had tiny dark circles beginning under eyed and that made me worry about her.

"Look. We are almost there." I said and pointed to a small building at the bottom of the hill. I couldn't stand to see her in pain so I swooped her up in front of me and she wrapped her arms around me.

"We're here." I said quietly in her ear. I could see Steve in the store and he was kind of worried when he saw me he came out. I gave him a little signal to be quiet so that Max wouldn't freak out.

"Is she ok?" Steve asked.

"Yeah. Just overwhelmed." I said.

"Put me down, I need to pee." Max said from her buried face in my shoulder.

"Ok."

"Is she going to be ok?" Steve asked when she went into the building.

"Yeah. She is just hormonal." I said.

"Listen to me, son. No matter what, you need to fight to keep her safe because if she loses that baby, both your and her worlds will be ruined. Trust me I know." He said and pulled out a picture of someone

whom I figured was his wife.

"She was in a car accident. I lost both her and our little girl. And everyday I have to wake up without either one of them. You had better be her knight in shining armor. Every whim she has, fulfill it. Because if you don't you will regret it." Steve said and put a firm hand on my shoulder.

"Thank you, Sir. I won't forget. And can you keep a special eye out for her?" I replied.

"I sure will. Don't worry she is safe with me."

"I will be back around 6 to get her. Don't let her leave without me. But I got to for a job interview. I'll see you later." I said and

walked about 8 minutes to where my first interview was. let was

unsuccessful as were the other 3. So I went to back to the gas station

to find Max crying again.

"What's going on?" I asked as I stampeded through the store.

"Someone hurt her feelings." Steve said in a sympatric tone.

"Don't worry. I'm here now. No one will ever hurt you again." I said and again she curled up next to me. It was painful to see her hurt. But we eventually calmed her down. Steve gave her some soda and I

talked to her in a soothing tone. When we got to where we could

actually understand what she was saying we began to talk.

"How did your interviews go?" She asked and short breaths.

"Not so well. They turned me down." I said.

"I wonder if you could work with me." Max said.

"I don't know, want me to see?" I asked and she let me go so I could get up. And I found Steve sitting at the register.

"Hey, all my job applications got turned down and I need a place to work so I can provide for my family. Do you think I could put one in?

for here." I asked.

"Family? How many of you are there?" Steve asked with one raised

eyebrow.

"Six kids and 1 dog. Oh. Wait and now a baby. We are not all related and we are from the ages 16 to 6. We are small but we are each others family." I said. I once again was lying for the better good. I saw Steve's eyes swell up with tears.

"Yes, you can finish Max's shift with her and you two can work the same schedule." He said and handed me an application.

"How did this happen? I mean to Jordan." it took me a second to realize who Jordan was but I figured it out.

"It's private and we don't like to talk about it." I said and searched for a pen.

"Did you do this to her?"

"Um. That's a gigantic no."

"Ok. Well when you finish that you can leave with Jordan. I know what it's like in these stages." Steve said.

"Thank you. I will be here tomorrow." I said and went back to get Max.

"See you then." Steve waved goodbye and I carried Max out of the door and all the way to the door of our home. I set her on the couch and I fell over on the couch next to her. I was quite out of breath.

Something was weird, it was to quiet. I hopped up and began to search

franticly but I couldn't find anyone. But when I looked out the back

window I found them playing outback. So I went back to Max and Figgy. It

felt weird saying his name but I would have to get used to it.

"Fang?"

"Yes?"

"Will you love me forever?"

"And ever." I knew this was just a mood swing so I went along with it even though there was truth to it.

"And even though this isn't your baby, will you love it?"

"Of course, I already do. Are you hungry?" I said in order to distract her.

"Not really. I want to go for a swim."

"But we don't have a pool."

"Oh. I forgot to tell you because you were yelling. I found a lake, a strawberry patch, and an apple tree."

"That's cool."

"I don't care what you're doing, I'm going swimming. Where did you put those swimsuits from the beach?"

"In the laundry room in the third drawer down." I replied. She stood up and trotted off to go it and I just sat back and took in the silence.

"Ask the others if they want to come also." Max said from behind me.

"Sure." I answered and went to get them. But not before I caught a glimpse of Max. Her belly was hanging over her once form fitting bikini.

"Please, don't stare. I know I'm not pretty." She said and turned around.

"No, you're not." I said but was cut off at a bad part.

"WHAT?"

"You're not pretty, you're freaking beautiful." and when I said that I saw her give a beautiful smile. But I had to go get everyone and give them their swimsuits. We followed Max to this oh so wonderful lake. And it was nice. We played and ate and played some more. Overall it was a good day and we were home by 9. But Max didn't want to sleep in her bed she wanted to stay in the living room. And every now and then she would get up walk around and sit back down with another bowl of ice cream. Would it never end? But I guess that's why I love her so much because of her 'imperfections'.

_**Thanks for reading. Leave me a review. ^_^Kiss. Kiss.**_


	9. A Day Off

Chapter 10: A Day Off.

Max POV

I woke up with a bowl and a spoon next to me on the floor. However, I didn't pay too much mind just picked it up and washed it and went to look for more food. But I was surprised when I saw the clock said 5:12 a.m. I didn't have anything to do but watch TV. I flipped through the endless channels but nothing was on so went and looked in the drawer under the TV where we kept home videos, even though we didn't have many I still treasured them. Like one I found that was back when we lived with Jeb and Gazzy and Angel were very little and we were taking turns passing them around, I killed me how little we all were. This was also before Iggy had his surgery. He was happy and laughing with all the joy in the world in his eyes. But you know what? He wouldn't be who he is today if it wasn't for what happen to him. I watched another one and it was when we were maybe 10, and we were making a surprise birthday cake for Jeb. It was quite funny we didn't finish on time and he found us but we made him go back out and come in surprised. I watched 4 of the maybe 6 we had. We had to get another video camera, we all loved that thing and when it crapped out we had a mini funeral.

"What are you doing?" I heard Iggy say from behind me.

"Just watching some old home video. I just finished watching the one where we messed up the surprise birthday cake for Jeb and we made him go back." I said, trying to not laugh with each word.

"I remember that. That was one of my first cakes." He said with a satisfied smile.

"And what a grand one it was."

"Can I sit with you?"

"Sure." I said and I sit up so he could sit down, even though I laid back down on him. He petted my hair as we watched more movies, and then I decided to look at the clock, it said 7:45. Would time ever speed up?

"Are you hungry?" He asked.

"Yes."

"For what?"

"Um...Fried bologna."

"Really?"

"Yes. Please. Please."

"Ok." He said. I followed him to the kitchen and hopped on the counter.

"How are you feeling today?" Iggy asked.

"I'm actually feeling great."

"That's an improvement."

"Yeah." I said. Then my phone interrupted our conversation by ringing.

"I wonder who that could be." I said and hopped down from the counter. I found my phone buried in a drawer in the kitchen.

"Hello?"

_"Hey, Jordan. It's Steve. I was calling to tell you that neither you nor Tyler have to come in today. I'm working with some others today."_

"Thanks, but are you sure?"

_"Yeah. Stay home, get some rest."_ Steve said to assure me.

"Ok then. See you later. Bye." I said and I hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" Iggy asked.

"My boss. He said that we can have the day off."

"That's wonderful." He said and flipped some bologna. We didn't make anyone get up they just got up on their own. First was Gazzy, second Nudge, third Fang, and last of all Angel. We all ate then sat there having all sorts of conversation.

"Steve called and said we can have the day off." I said to Fang.

"Cool, so what are we going to do?"

"First we are going to clean house then we'll see after that." when I said that everyone gave a moan I even felt a kick of disagreement from inside me. But I didn't give in to their whining and when we finished a house was sparkling.

"I know what we can do." Gazzy said.

"And what is that?" Fang asked.

"Ok. Well. I've been researching this one park called Cades Cove. There are bears, deer, rabbits, and all sorts of stuff!" He shouted shaking his arm to stress the point.

"Sounds pretty cool." Nudge said.

"Let's go then." I said and began to rummage around for basketball shorts and a big tee shirt. Let me tell you. It was not easy, everything was either too tight or too short. I wanted to scream and did.

"What is the issue?" Nudge asked and came in my room.

"Nothing fits." I pouted.

"I figured this would happen, so when me, Fang, and Angel went to the store I got you these." She said and pulled out a bag filled with either maternity or fat people clothes.

"Did you really?" I asked.

"I color coordinated everything and each blouse has a bottom that goes with it. So if you're not sure what goes with what just ask me." She said and pointed to herself. She laid out appropriate out a for the occasion. I picked a set with denim shorts, a white flowy shirt with elbow length sleeves that were also flowy, a fancy straw hat with a black ribbon, and some pink sunglasses.

"OMB! You look adorable. Oh! Let me do your hair please?" Nudge pleaded.

"Sure." I answered. She brushed my hair gently and put it up in a braid and placed my hat on top.

"I wish I looked like you." She said and looked gazingly at me.

"You are beautiful, Nudge. We'll finish this later. Now go get ready."

"Ok." She agreed and skipped off. I turned to look a mirror to see what I looked like. I didn't look that bad. My cloths complimented my belly, but I'm not sure if that's what I should be aiming for. As if I people don't stare at me anyway, let's add some colors and accents.

"Knock, knock." I heard Iggy.

"Hey. What's up."

"Do you have the brush?"

"Since when do you care about your hair? By the way, I need to trim everyone's hair. Come on." I said and went to the bathroom to look for some scissors.

"I found the scissors, come on boys!" I shouted from the kitchen. I had to track them down one by one and take them to the kitchen. I barely cut anything; I just trimmed it to below their ears.

"Can you trim mine too?" I heard Angel say.

"Yeah, Sweetie. How much?" I asked because it was almost to her waist.

"To my shoulders? Is that ok?" She asked.

"Yepp." I said and began to separate her hair so it would be even. There was a few moments of silence then Angel scared me by breaking it.

"Are you still mad at me?" She asked, ever so sweetly.

"I try to not think about it."

"You know, I was just scared. I didn't know how you would take it."

"It's over now. And I still love you. Ok. You're all done. Nudge, Can you come take care of Angel's hair?" I said and wiped some hair from her shoulder.

"Coming!" Nudge is our stylist and fashion director. We packed some sandwiches and switchblades because the last time we were in an open field Angel was carried away. We kept rather close together. But we eventually got relaxed enough to have at least 10 feet between us. We found a river and we laid on top of each and ate beside it, then we splashed around and got wet. Then we laid in the sun to dry off. And each and every move I made was closely monitored by Fang. It was cute but annoying to know someone is watching everything you do. Amazingly I didn't flinch at every move I made. I was the happiest girl alive. And not to mention I got a tan, bonus! But I was starving, I wanted some chocolate. And I wanted it now.


	10. Ouchies

Chapter 11: Ouchies

Max POV

I was in desperate need of chocolate. I think I might actually die if don't get it. We need to go now.

"Fang lets go home." I pleaded.

"I don't think the flock is ready to go quite yet." Fang said. I knew it was pointless to carry on so I went to a picnic table and stretched out across it. Granted I wanted to go home, but who was I to ruin a perfect day for the flock? We never have had this many before, I'm starting to get suspicious. Soon my mind wondered from these things, I started making shapes in the clouds, thinking of different baby name (But I liked my original one best), what lullaby would I sing to him, and etc. But Gazzy interrupted my thoughts.

"Hey, Max." He said and sat down in the table's seat.

"Hey, buddy. What's up?" I said and sat up.

"I...I was wondering, once you have your baby, will you still love us?" he asked as light tears rolled down his cheeks.

"No, I don't think I will. Nah. I was just kidding you, of course I will. You were my first baby, even before Angel. Come here and give me a big bear hug." I said with out stretched arms, and he happily jumped up to give it to me. I gave him a big kiss on top of his head and he returned the favor with one on my cheek.

"Hey. Don't be getting any PDA's out here on us." Fang shouted from about 20 feet away.

"Ha-ha. You're so funny." I shouted back.

"I know, that's one of many reasons you love me." He laughed but Iggy came up behind him, jumped on his back, and they began to wrestle playfully.

"HEY! HEY! Cut it out!" I shouted but not soon enough because they each fell back and got their heads busted open.

"See this is what happens when you don't listen to me." I said and slid down off the table to go see the damage.

"Man! Is my head still on my body?" Iggy asked running his fingers over the wound.

"Let me see." I said in a soothing voice.

"Ouch! Be careful." Fang said and jerked away from me.

"I'm only trying to help you. Lets go home and get you two patched up."

"Fine." they both said. It was a short flight home. We got home and I made them sit down while I searched for the first-aid kit. I found it and I had disinfect them then put a patch over the gash that was only 1 inch long and not even 3 centimeters deep.

"Ok. All done. Let's get to bed." I said. They weren't that far behind. But it was a very fun day. And everybody is tired and worn out. So we said our good night and sweet dreams then crashed.

_"Max. Max. Listen to me. Be careful who you trust. You need to trust your family but be cautious of others. They may seem nice and friendly but be careful. This is vital. Be on guard and stay close to your family. And if I'm not mistaken, there is someone who is close to you that is really not. I'm concerned for you at this very trying time. Be safe and very safe. Goodbye. I'll keep checking on you. Later."_ That was the Voice, again. I wish she would just tell me what is what and what in the world she is talking about. I spent the rest of the night dreaming. It was nice. But I was soon wakened by Angel tapping me on the shoulder saying that she had a nightmare, so I let her crawl in with me. She was asleep soon, but once I'm awake I'm awake until it's time for bed again. I laid there petting her hair and thinking about what the Voice had said. She could've been talking about anyone. I have to get up I can't lay in this bed anymore. I slowly slipped from Angel and went to kitchen for some food. I went through everything we had but we had no chocolate. Wait... I know, when I go to work I can get some from there, and today I get my paycheck! So it's a win-win day. Since we didn't have chocolate I stuffed myself with a 2 cups of yogurt, a ham sandwich with mayo, then some leftover lasagna. It was good until I got a stomachache from eating to fast. But now I don't want chocolate, I want cheese puffs. Luckily, for me we had a whole, unopened bag. When I got halfway through the bag, I put it away and began to clean up my mess and go find some pants for work. I went through the bag that Nudge gave me and picked out a simple pair of grey pants that were actually denim. I was so glad to find them, there is nothing like the feel of denim. I also found a shirt with two baby feet on it, I thought it was cute so I wore that. I should probably wake up Fang. It's almost time to go.

"Fang. Fang, get up." I said poking him in the arm.

"Do I have to? Wait. Don't answer that."

"I gave you 20 minutes to get ready." I said with my hands in my hips.

"Whatever, mother." He joked and pulled the cover over his head.

"Fang, I'm serious."

"So am I."

"I'm leaving." I said and swiftly walked out of the room. I grabbed my cell phone and walked out, actually, I flew out. Flying cut the trip in half, so I flew as much as I could. I dropped down because I like to sightsee. But I was soon interrupted by Fang singing, yes singing.

_"Don't walk away when I'm talking to you, this ain't no time for your bad attitude. Don't give me that face, cause you know I'm really down for the chase. Cause my heart's already in it and I'm never gonna quit it."_ Fang sang and cut up after every other word.

"Really?" If you're considering a singing career, don't." I remarked.

"Aw. So you're not completely a marshmallow...yet."

"What does that mean?"

"I mean, when you have that kid, you aren't going to have time for being mean and stuff."

"That...Kid?"

"You know that isn't what I meant."

"So what did you mean? Huh? Did you mean that since I'm not having your kid, you aren't going to love him? You just going to take off and not return this time? So what!"

"You need to calm down." He said reaching for me but I jerked away.

"Don't touch me." I said through gritted teeth.

"Can't a guy make one mistake?"

"NO! Not when you're in a family that doesn't have that many supporting places to go!"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend."

"Just shut up and let's get to work." I said. The rest of the trip was quiet except for when branches broke under feet. Every now and then would kick a stick to air out some anger. We were almost there when Fang grabbed me and kissed me. Thing was I didn't even push him away.

"I can't stand when you're mad at me." He said, while he still had hold of me forcing me to look at him.

"Me neither." I said kissing him back.

"We had better get to work." I said but I didn't let go of his hand. I'm so scared about everything. Whether or not we will always have a place to live, if I will be able to keep my baby safe, but one thing I'm not afraid of is losing my family, I just test them sometimes. We got to work a few minutes before we were supposed to. No one was there so we went ahead in to start stocking and clean. We had good day. Except for the fact, we actually had to work.

"Can you refill the soap dispensers? I'm going to take out the trash." Fang asked.

"Yeah." I said and went to get some soap, and when I got to the bathroom I found that someone had pour water and soap everywhere. My lucky night. I tried to step over the big puddle to reach the mop, but instead I slipped and fell on my back. I felt the air leave my body almost immediately. Oh my goodness. Is he ok? Did I hurt my baby? Ok, Max, slowly get up. When I stood up I turned to see my back, it was covered with slimy bubbles. My hair was slimy as well. I cleaned up the puddle then limped from the bathroom. I walked up behind Fang and tapped my foot impatiently.

"Hello." I said impatiently.

"Yeah." He said and turned around to be shocked.

"What happen to you?" He asked.

"I slipped and fell. And it really hurt." I sniffled. Then Steve came in from the back room and saw me.

"What happened? Are you ok?" He asked began wiping me off with a few paper towels.

"'I'm fine. I just fell."

"You fell? Do you need to go to a hospital?"

"No. I just need to go home." I said and wrapped my arms around Fang in a hug.

"Sure. You can get off a few minutes early. I'll just close up."

"Actually I was wondering if you could give us a lift." I asked.

"That's fine. Go clean yourself up as much as you can." He responded. He was finished in no time and I hadn't had time to barely wipe my hair. I guess I'll take a bath at home. Steve gave us the keys to the car so we could go ahead, and Fang let me sit up front and before he shut the door, he leaned my seat back a little.

"Thanks." I said and laid back and closed my eyes. Fang crawled into the back seat and I had that feeling I get when I know someone is staring at me. I was about to fall asleep when my phone went off in Fang's pocket.

"Hello?" Fang said in a low voice.

"She is currently unavailable…Sure…Ok. I will tell her. Bye." Fang said and hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Dr. What's-Her-Face."

"Martinez?"

"Yeah sure."

"What did she want?"

"She wanted you to know that she is coming in the middle of your 8th month. So in 2 months we will be expecting a visitor to stay for one and a half months. Great."

"She's not all that bad."

"I didn't say she was. I just don't want some stranger in our house."

"OK. Well, I'm tired so I'm going to nap." I said and twisted in the seat until I could get comfortable. And 5 minutes later I heard Steve get in quietly. He cranked the car and Fang gave him directions but I was asleep before we even got to the hill. I was woke up by Fang gently lifting me from the car and carrying me the porch.

"I need to take a bath." I told him.

"Need any help?"

"No."

"Fine. Show me how you're going to wash your hair." He asked.

"You know I'm supposed to put my arms over my head." I replied.

"My point." He said.

"I'll put my bathing suit on."

"Fine. I'll accept help. But not from you. I will get Nudge." I said and I knew I had got to him. So I got my bath first I bathed then I just sat there and let the warm water soothe me. But my water soon became cold so I dried myself off and slipped on some pajamas. Instead of going to my room, I went to the living room and stretched out on the recliner.


	11. Ouchies continued

Chapter 11: Ouchies

Max POV

I was in desperate need of chocolate. I think I might actually die if don't get it. We need to go now.

"Fang lets go home." I pleaded.

"I don't think the flock is ready to go quite yet." Fang said. I knew it was pointless to carry on so I went to a picnic table and stretched out across it. Granted I wanted to go home, but who was I to ruin a perfect day for the flock? We never have had this many before, I'm starting to get suspicious. Soon my mind wondered from these things, I started making shapes in the clouds, thinking of different baby name (But I liked my original one best), what lullaby would I sing to him, and etc. But Gazzy interrupted my thoughts.

"Hey, Max." He said and sat down in the table's seat.

"Hey, buddy. What's up?" I said and sat up.

"I...I was wondering, once you have your baby, will you still love us?" he asked as light tears rolled down his cheeks.

"No, I don't think I will. Nah. I was just kidding you, of course I will. You were my first baby, even before Angel. Come here and give me a big bear hug." I said with out stretched arms, and he happily jumped up to give it to me. I gave him a big kiss on top of his head and he returned the favor with one on my cheek.

"Hey. Don't be getting any PDA's out here on us." Fang shouted from about 20 feet away.

"Ha-ha. You're so funny." I shouted back.

"I know, that's one of many reasons you love me." He laughed but Iggy came up behind him, jumped on his back, and they began to wrestle playfully.

"HEY! HEY! Cut it out!" I shouted but not soon enough because they each fell back and got their heads busted open.

"See this is what happens when you don't listen to me." I said and slid down off the table to go see the damage.

"Man! Is my head still on my body?" Iggy asked running his fingers over the wound.

"Let me see." I said in a soothing voice.

"Ouch! Be careful." Fang said and jerked away from me.

"I'm only trying to help you. Lets go home and get you two patched up."

"Fine." they both said. It was a short flight home. We got home and I made them sit down while I searched for the first-aid kit. I found it and I had disinfect them then put a patch over the gash that was only 1 inch long and not even 3 centimeters deep.

"Ok. All done. Let's get to bed." I said. They weren't that far behind. But it was a very fun day. And everybody is tired and worn out. So we said our good night and sweet dreams then crashed.

_"Max. Max. Listen to me. Be careful who you trust. You need to trust your family but be cautious of others. They may seem nice and friendly but be careful. This is vital. Be on guard and stay close to your family. And if I'm not mistaken, there is someone who is close to you that is really not. I'm concerned for you at this very trying time. Be safe and very safe. Goodbye. I'll keep checking on you. Later."_ That was the Voice, again. I wish she would just tell me what is what and what in the world she is talking about. I spent the rest of the night dreaming. It was nice. But I was soon wakened by Angel tapping me on the shoulder saying that she had a nightmare, so I let her crawl in with me. She was asleep soon, but once I'm awake I'm awake until it's time for bed again. I laid there petting her hair and thinking about what the Voice had said. She could've been talking about anyone. I have to get up I can't lay in this bed anymore. I slowly slipped from Angel and went to kitchen for some food. I went through everything we had but we had no chocolate. Wait... I know, when I go to work I can get some from there, and today I get my paycheck! So it's a win-win day. Since we didn't have chocolate I stuffed myself with a 2 cups of yogurt, a ham sandwich with mayo, then some leftover lasagna. It was good until I got a stomachache from eating to fast. But now I don't want chocolate, I want cheese puffs. Luckily, for me we had a whole, unopened bag. When I got halfway through the bag, I put it away and began to clean up my mess and go find some pants for work. I went through the bag that Nudge gave me and picked out a simple pair of grey pants that were actually denim. I was so glad to find them, there is nothing like the feel of denim. I also found a shirt with two baby feet on it, I thought it was cute so I wore that. I should probably wake up Fang. It's almost time to go.

"Fang. Fang, get up." I said poking him in the arm.

"Do I have to? Wait. Don't answer that."

"I gave you 20 minutes to get ready." I said with my hands in my hips.

"Whatever, mother." He joked and pulled the cover over his head.

"Fang, I'm serious."

"So am I."

"I'm leaving." I said and swiftly walked out of the room. I grabbed my cell phone and walked out, actually, I flew out. Flying cut the trip in half, so I flew as much as I could. I dropped down because I like to sightsee. But I was soon interrupted by Fang singing, yes singing.

_"Don't walk away when I'm talking to you, this ain't no time for your bad attitude. Don't give me that face, cause you know I'm really down for the chase. Cause my heart's already in it and I'm never gonna quit it."_ Fang sang and cut up after every other word.

"Really?" If you're considering a singing career, don't." I remarked.

"Aw. So you're not completely a marshmallow...yet."

"What does that mean?"

"I mean, when you have that kid, you aren't going to have time for being mean and stuff."

"That...Kid?"

"You know that isn't what I meant."

"So what did you mean? Huh? Did you mean that since I'm not having your kid, you aren't going to love him? You just going to take off and not return this time? So what!"

"You need to calm down." He said reaching for me but I jerked away.

"Don't touch me." I said through gritted teeth.

"Can't a guy make one mistake?"

"NO! Not when you're in a family that doesn't have that many supporting places to go!"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend."

"Just shut up and let's get to work." I said. The rest of the trip was quiet except for when branches broke under feet. Every now and then would kick a stick to air out some anger. We were almost there when Fang grabbed me and kissed me. Thing was I didn't even push him away.

"I can't stand when you're mad at me." He said, while he still had hold of me forcing me to look at him.

"Me neither." I said kissing him back.

"We had better get to work." I said but I didn't let go of his hand. I'm so scared about everything. Whether or not we will always have a place to live, if I will be able to keep my baby safe, but one thing I'm not afraid of is losing my family, I just test them sometimes. We got to work a few minutes before we were supposed to. No one was there so we went ahead in to start stocking and clean. We had good day. Except for the fact, we actually had to work.

"Can you refill the soap dispensers? I'm going to take out the trash." Fang asked.

"Yeah." I said and went to get some soap, and when I got to the bathroom I found that someone had pour water and soap everywhere. My lucky night. I tried to step over the big puddle to reach the mop, but instead I slipped and fell on my back. I felt the air leave my body almost immediately. Oh my goodness. Is he ok? Did I hurt my baby? Ok, Max, slowly get up. When I stood up I turned to see my back, it was covered with slimy bubbles. My hair was slimy as well. I cleaned up the puddle then limped from the bathroom. I walked up behind Fang and tapped my foot impatiently.

"Hello." I said impatiently.

"Yeah." He said and turned around to be shocked.

"What happen to you?" He asked.

"I slipped and fell. And it really hurt." I sniffled. Then Steve came in from the back room and saw me.

"What happened? Are you ok?" He asked began wiping me off with a few paper towels.

"'I'm fine. I just fell."

"You fell? Do you need to go to a hospital?"

"No. I just need to go home." I said and wrapped my arms around Fang in a hug.

"Sure. You can get off a few minutes early. I'll just close up."

"Actually I was wondering if you could give us a lift." I asked.

"That's fine. Go clean yourself up as much as you can." He responded. He was finished in no time and I hadn't had time to barely wipe my hair. I guess I'll take a bath at home. Steve gave us the keys to the car so we could go ahead, and Fang let me sit up front and before he shut the door, he leaned my seat back a little.

"Thanks." I said and laid back and closed my eyes. Fang crawled into the back seat and I had that feeling I get when I know someone is staring at me. I was about to fall asleep when my phone went off in Fang's pocket.

"Hello?" Fang said in a low voice.

"She is currently unavailable…Sure…Ok. I will tell her. Bye." Fang said and hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Dr. What's-Her-Face."

"Martinez?"

"Yeah sure."

"What did she want?"

"She wanted you to know that she is coming in the middle of your 8th month. So in 2 months we will be expecting a visitor to stay for one and a half months. Great."

"She's not all that bad."

"I didn't say she was. I just don't want some stranger in our house."

"OK. Well, I'm tired so I'm going to nap." I said and twisted in the seat until I could get comfortable. And 5 minutes later I heard Steve get in quietly. He cranked the car and Fang gave him directions but I was asleep before we even got to the hill. I was woke up by Fang gently lifting me from the car and carrying me the porch.

"I need to take a bath." I told him.

"Need any help?"

"No."

"Fine. Show me how you're going to wash your hair." He asked.

"You know I'm supposed to put my arms over my head." I replied.

"My point." He said.

"I'll put my bathing suit on."

"Fine. I'll accept help. But not from you. I will get Nudge." I said and I knew I had got to him. So I got my bath first I bathed then I just sat there and let the warm water soothe me. But my water soon became cold so I dried myself off and slipped on some pajamas. Instead of going to my room, I went to the living room and stretched out on the recliner.


	12. Are You for Real?

Chapter 12: Are You For Real?

Max POV

I woke up refreshed. And ready for a new day. We had pretty much he same thing everyday for the next 4 weeks, eat, get Fang up, go to work, eat, come home to the best family in the world, and eat some more. I probably gained 10 pounds in one week. But I got sick of our version of suburbia. Now I was a strapping 7 and 3\4 months along. Days were growing colder and shorter and everyday I got more and more scared. And by now sleep was getting more scarce.

"Hey." Nudge came to me with concern in her face.

"Yes?"

"I've had a thought strike me."

"And what is that?"

"What are we going to bring the baby home in? I mean his first outfit has to be absolutely amazing."

"I will let you have that honor."

"Really? Oh! He will have little baby blue layette. We can't forget to take a camera and a video camera." She said.

"What? No. No. No. You will not record that!" I kind of shouted, by in a friendly matter.

"Oh come on, Max. It will be a beautiful act of nature that will need to be remembered forever." She said putting her hands on her hips.

"I'll think on it but not if you keep bugging me. And you WILL not record you know where. You can have it off to the side."

"So does that mean we can do it?"

"I said I would think about."

"Ok."

"Hey, Nudge, would you like her someone to record you during that time?" Iggy asked.

"Why yes of course. I don't want to miss a thing."

"I'm not recording." Iggy said, laughing.

"Me either." Gazzy said while making a face to pretend he was throwing up.

"I wouldn't want to miss it. I hope I have a girl. I would dress her in little dolly dresses, and put bows in her hair." She said dreamily.

"Well I'm perfectly fine with my boy." I said and rubbed my oversized tummy.

"Me too. I don't think could handle another girl." Fang said and

rubbed his temples, but not seriously.

"What's today's date?" I asked.

"Ok, Ms. Random. It's November 20th. Why?" Total asked.

"None of your business."

"I've got to go to work, so I'll see you later." Fang said, I forgot to mention Steve let me work two weeks then I get one week off. It was pretty nice of him and he said that I can home for however long I need to when I finally have him. Steve was real nice to us. He's even been over for dinner a few times. I'm afraid I'm getting to close to him. All of a sudden, I heard Iggy kind of gasp in pain.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I have this major headache out of no where." He said grabbing his head.

"Let's get him to his room. Gazzy get a rag and run it under cold water. Nudge, get some Tylenol and a glass of water." I ordered then let him put his arms around my shoulders and let me lead him to his room. I sat him down and shut the blinds quickly. Everybody came in a gave me the supplies I sent them away, then went and waited in the living room.

"Now it feels like my eyes are burning." He said grabbing a pillow to cover them. I dabbed his head with the cold rag and gave him some medicine with water.

"Here let me see if there is something in it." I said in a low monotone voice. He raised up an opened his right at me, and jumped.

"What's wrong?" I asked wiping some sweat from my forehead.

"No-no-nothing is wrong. It's quite right. And you're really pretty."

"Oh my goodness. You're delusional. We've go to get you to a hospital."

"No. I'll prove it. You're wearing a purple shirt and black cotton shorts. And your hair is in a messy bun. Your eyes sparkle ." He said.

"GUYS!" I screamed and placed my trembling hand over my mouth then I heard a thunderous sound of people running.

"What happen!" Nudge terrifyingly screeched.

"Tell them, Ig."

"You all look so much bigger than when I saw you last." He said laughing and jumping up from the bed.

"Nudge, did you get Tylenol or morphine?" I asked rhetorically.

"I'm pretty sure.".

"Ya'll have grown up so pretty. But Max, you are slightly bigger than I remember." he said and made reference toward my stomach. He took in each detail of our faces and every detail about us.

"You're not kidding, are you?" Gazzy asked.

"You are wearing camo shirt and black pants." He said and when it sank in that he wasn't kidding, I began to cry.

"Come on, cheer up. Don't cry. I know what we can do, show me everything." Ig said and was smiling because he could actually see who he was comforting.

"What do you want to see first?" Gazzy asked.

"Lets go around outside, show me everything."

"Why are we sitting around then?" I asked and forced myself to get up. We had fun and a busy day running from here to there so Iggy could see everything. It was a little uncomfortable for me but it was the least I could do for him. After all, he had missed everything.

"Aren't you guys' kind of hungry?" I asked because I was.

"Oh my goodness! Don't you know what I can do now that I have my sight? We can even barbecue because today is so pretty." He said. And God bless him, he would not shut up. He talked his way through the barbecue telling each and every detail, the side dish was baked potatoes, and we had apple pie for dessert topped with ice cream. Over all, it was a good meal but I was so tired that I had to go to bed.

"I'm sorry you all. I'm so sleepy that I can't keep my eyes open. So I'm going to lay down. Iggy, can you watch everyone for me? I don't care what you do but don't leave the perimeter."

"I sure can."

"Thanks." I said and went to bed and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I slept for maybe 5 hours and was woke up by nothingness. Yes, when it is to quiet I wake up. I sat up and had gotten the crap scared out of me. Iggy had been watching me.

"How - What are you doing?"

"Watching my sister sleep in peace." He said. People may have thought that me and Iggy could end up but no. We are just good bother and sister. Sorry.

"Why?"

"Because I don't know when I will be able to again."

"Ok. Whatever. Is Fang home yet?"

"No but he should be soon." And when he said that the doorbell rang. Why did the doorbell ring? He wouldn't ring it, he would just walk in.

"I should go check that out." I said, pushing the covers off me.

"I got it. Just lay down." Ig said. The doorbell rang again.

"I need to get up. Plus, I want to show you something." I stretched and took a quick glance in the mirror. I straightened myself out before opening the door.

"Dr. Martinez? What are you doing here so early? Can I help you carry your bags?"

"No no. Don't, I can do it."

"Well if you don't want me doing it can at least Iggy help?"

"The blind one?"

"Yes and no. Iggy, come here."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll explain later. Please come in, make yourself at home."

"You called for me?" Iggy asked.

"Yeah. Help her get her bags." I told him.

"Ok. Who's your friend?"

"This is Dr. Martinez, my doctor friend. Which reminds me what I wanted to show you. And, Dr. Martinez this is Iggy." I said and left the room to go get my ultrasound for Iggy.

"Here you go, Iggy." I said heanded him the pictures then sat down next to him.

"Is that him? Wow." He said and leaned back then ran his fingers through his hair.

"Yep. That's my boy."

"Max, I hate to tell you but your kid looks like a deranged sea monkey." Iggy said and laughed.

"He was and still is growing. But you still look like one." I remarked back then we both laughed.

"Would you want to more updated pictures, Max?" Dr. Martinez asked.

"Sure. But I don't want to burden you or anything." I said awkwardly.

"You're not serious, are you? You are never a burden. In fact, we're going to do this first thing in the morning. Not to be noisy but where is your other guy friend?" She asked.

"You mean, Fang? He's at work." I said.

"You guys work? Oh! I didn't mean that like it came out. Sorry. I just meant with the wings and all." Dr. Martinez exclaimed.

"It's fine. No harm done. And yes we do. I'm getting me something to drink, would you like something, Dr. Martinez?" I said.

"Please call me Mom or Valencia. And a glass of water, if you don't mind."

"Sure, Valencia." as I walked to the kitchen I heard the front door open. I got Valencia's water then went back to the living room.

"Hey. Did Iggy tell you what happened?" I asked and bit my lip.

"What happened?" He said with wide eyes.

"Iggy! Come here. Fang's home."

"Yeah. Be right there."

"Max?" He said and Iggy walked up behind him.

"Boo." Iggy tried to spook Fang.

"So what hap-. Whats wrong with your eyes?"

"Absolutely nothing. And you look the same as ever."

"Are you kidding?"

"Nope. My eyes are getting foggy but I can still see."

"Man, this is great. And how are you." He turned to me but meant the baby.

"He's fine, at least I think he is."

"You think?" Both Iggy and Fang asked at the same time.

"Valencia is going to do another ultrasound tomorrow."

_**So what did you think? Let me know. Thanks for reading. ^_^ Kiss. Kiss.**_


	13. Help!

Chapter 13: Help!

Max POV

"So are you ready?" Valencia asked me, but I knew it was just a question, she was trying to get me out the door.

"In a minute." I said. Nudge was picking out an outfit for me to wear that would keep me warm and how to wear my hair.

"Nudge, I've got to go. You've done a great job." I said and left her grasp.

"Sorry. Let's go." I said and Dr. Martinez had so kindly called a cab so we crawled in the car. I was relieved that I didn't have to walk but I don't like being trapped. I am just a little bit claustrophobic.

"You ok?" Valencia asked.

"Yeah. I just get nervous around doctors and hospitals." I said while biting my nails.

"Why? Don't you know you can trust me?" She said.

"Yeah, How far are we going? Are we close?" I asked and let my hands rest on my tummy.

"About 10 hours." She said and turned and gave me this weird look. I tried to open the door but it was locked, and I couldn't unlock it. I was panicking, and then I felt this small pain in the back of my arm. Things were getting fuzzy and then I went completely out.

I woke to the repulsing smell of cleaner and a some what antiseptic smell. I wasn't strapped down and I still had my regular clothes on. But I knew where I was, but how did I get he-. I can't believe she turned me in! How could she? Was this the plan all along? Were they going to experiment on me and most important, my baby? I burst out crying, went over to the corner, and cried to myself. So much so I got to where I was choking, shaking, and had a headache. I am so scared. I want to go home; I can't break out without hurting him. What am I supposed to do?

"Max. Are you alright, sweet heart?" There is only one person who called me that, Jeb. He placed a light hand on my shoulder. But I jerked away from him.

"I'm not your sweet anything." I snarled.

"Please, don't be like that. I told them not to do this, but they wouldn't listen. I know it's way too much on your shoulders."

"So why didn't you let me out! How come you let this happen to me?" I screamed as tears ran down my face and my voice trembling. I hated to let them see they were getting to me.

"I knew it wouldn't do any good. It's going to be ok, just calm down." He said and reaches out a hand to help me up. I had to accept because I wasn't going to get up by myself. He offered me a seat. When I looked around the room looked like an apartment, with a TV, bathroom, couch, and the whole nine yards.

"Let me go." I shrugged and went to the bathroom to pee, then looked in the mirror to compose myself. I looked like a hot mess. But I knew I couldn't stay in there forever, so I opened the door. Instead of finding just Jeb, Ari was here to.

"Well, well, well look what the cat dragged in." Ari chuckled. I didn't say anything, I just made my way to the couch.

"Ari! Don't be like that. Be nice to your sister." Jeb said.

"Half-Sister." Ari snapped.

"WHAT?" I asked rather violently.

"I'm your half brother. Hey, sis." Ari laughed.

"Wait if you're my half-brother, with my mom or dad?" I asked.

"With our dad."

"Max, I'm your father." Jeb said.

"You waited until now to tell me? Who is my mom?" I asked placing my trembling hands over my mouth.

"Maybe she will want to tell-" Jeb began.

"WHO!" I screamed.

"Dr. Valencia Martinez." He said letting his head hang down. I swore a little bit then demanded that Jeb leave. Ari wouldn't leave. Jeb left the room with barely making a noise. A few moments went by in silence then Ari began to talk.

"Max, listen to me. You may think I'm joking but I'm not. When I heard that they were going to steal you and take your son, I thought that I don't want what happened to me to happen to your boy. So I'm going to break you out. Even if it kills me." Ari said.

"You're just trying to get me to like you." I replied holding my head from the headache.

"No. I'm not; I don't care if you hate me. I will get you out of here, even if I die trying."

"How do I know if you're lying or not?" I said.

"Look at me. I'm still me, the boy you grew up with. I want to help you." He said. I took into consideration what he was saying, he would help me out of here, which leads to them not taking my kid, and he gets out too. It's a win-win case.

"I'm thinking that sounds wonderful, but I'm also thinking you need to earn my trust and vise versa." I said. "Whatever it takes." He responded. But there isn't just one thing he could do to earn my trust.

"You know I can't let you out ASAP, right? It would take planning and timing." Ari said.

"Understood. Can I have some privacy?" I asked.

"Yeah. And if you look around there is clothes, food, a bathroom, and everything you need. If not, there is a call button by the door." He said and left. I couldn't bare it anymore, I'm starving like I'm about to die. I found the refrigerator; it was stuffed with yogurt, cheese, cokes, bottled water, chocolates, sliced ham and turkey, and everything that tasted like the best thing on earth. I just made myself a sandwich and sat on the couch and turn the TV on. I watched a cooking show, then some show called Supernatural. It was pretty cool and had hot guys in it. I keep letting myself drift to sleep but soon after I do I'll be woken up by either noise or fear. I eventually gave up on trying to sleep and ate some more, then walked around the room until I had learned every little thing about it. I'm so bored, there is nothing to do. But I kind of enjoyed the privacy. I took a shower and washed my hair with strawberry shampoo and conditioner, washed in the best smelling soap, and basically it was the best shower ever. I dried myself and dug through the drawers to find something to wear. Sweatpants and a tee shirt would be suffice with some slippers, then I brushed my hair and let it hang down straight. The bed looked semi comfortable, but when I sat down on it I found out that it was a water bed. I was asleep in seconds. But soon stupid nurse came in and woke me up.

"Max, get up. You have to come with me. You are getting an examination." She said in monotone voice, like a robot.

"No."

"If you don't cooperate with me, let's just say I've got my own methods." She said as she pulled out a syringe full of a clear liquid that I guessed to be a sedative. I should go with her because I'm not to fond of needles.

"Ok. What ever." I said and stood up. When I did, this sharp unbearable pain shot up my spine and I let out a scream.

"What's the matter?" She asked but I couldn't answer. It wasn't labor pain, but this pain like I was about to fall apart. I fell back down and the nurse called for someone to come help her. They carried me to an examination room and laid me out on a table, despite my screaming and crying. I turned on my side and put my hand over my eyes so I could hide from the light. Not but maybe a few minutes later I felt hands run down my back felling each vertebrae.

"Have you fallen as of lately?" Jeb's voice said from behind me. I didn't answer, normally I would've jerked away but I was so out of sorts that I didn't even care.

"This is important." He said again.

"So what?" I said.

"Sweetheart, just answer the question." He said pleadingly.

"Yes." I said and tried to sit up, but unsuccessfully.

"Don't try to move. How long ago?"

"About a month and a half ago." I said.

"It seems like you have hurt yourself quite bad and that's put pain on top of pain. Are you ready for your ultrasound?" Jeb asked. I nodded my head. He didn't put me in a wheel chair; he just picked me up and carried me. I would have fought back but I don't care anymore. But when he sat me down on a cold, metal table I became quite alert.

"Sorry." He said and actually sounded remorseful. I hadn't completely forgiven him but I felt bad for him.

"Can you lift your shirt?" He asked.

"What?" I asked back.

"Your ultrasound? Don't you remember?" He said and gave a smile. I laid back and did as he asked, and soon a little thumping noise fills the room. I couldn't help but smile neither could he. This must be extremely weird for both of us, because this was my son and his grandson.

"He looks kind of like you." I said to lighten the mood.

"You think?" He asked.

"Sure." I lied and forced a little smile. Why am I being so nice? I'm supposed to the hormonal pregnant girl. After a few minutes he let me down and helped me to my room. The things I saw were things would give your nightmare's nightmares. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, I couldn't even look anymore I had to put my head down as we continued to walk. Jeb lead me to a room that said 'room 512'. Jeb took me in and laid me on the bed and handed me a package that had the ultrasound in it.

"I made a copy for you."

"Thanks."

"Welcome. You need to lie in bed for a while; we'll send someone every now and again to check on you, but I will give you some stuff to snack on. And here is the remote if you want to watch TV." He said.

"What if I have to go to the bathroom?" I asked.

"Then walk very slowly; don't just hop up."

"Thanks." I said and rolled over to sleep. He left and came back with bottled water and chips, laid them on the night stand, then left quietly. I opened the package and looked at my baby's picture. It is amazing. He's mine and I'm his. Next time I see Jeb came I had to ask him who's his daddy. I might not want to know. WAIT! They took me so in the end...they're going to take my baby. Oh my word. Why haven't I thought this before now? Wait. Ari said he would get me out, but would he in time? I turned the TV on and drifted to sleep. I dreamt about me, the flock, and my baby. We just sat around and talked about our favorite memories and passed the baby around. Everyone talked in their baby voice to him. I was laughing, actually laughing. I woke up with this horrible big smile on my face. I slowly got up and walked around for a bit but when my back began to hurt I sat down. I'm getting lonely, I know I have someone with me all the time, but I need someone to talk to and who'll talk back. I decided to hit the call button, just to know I'm not alone in this world.

"Hello." a female robotic voice came on over the intercom.

"Send Ari to me." I said randomly.

"One minute." She said and cut off. I heard Ari coming down the hall. I stepped back so the door wouldn't hit me.

"What's wrong?" He asked tensely.

"I'm going crazy from being alone and being trapped in this room!" I unintentionally yelled.

"Chill out."

"I WANT OUT OF THIS ROOM!"

"I can't just take you out, not yet at least."

"Just take me to the garden, cafeteria, or something. I don't care!" I pleaded.

"I'll see what I can do. Your back is nearly broken, so you need to sit down." He said. I laid my head against the wall then pounded my fist against it.

"Max, go sit down. Now." He said.

"No. You don't understand." I said and began to cry.

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't. You're not looking at possibly having your child ripped helplessly from you! I'm so scared. I just want to go home." I admitted.

"Ok. Maybe I don't, but this is still my family. He shouldn't have to go through everything that I did. It's horrible being me. I will die for this cause, if I have to." He said and wrapped his arms around me and helped me to the couch.

"I'm just scared." I repeated and wiped tears from my face.

"Shh," He soothed me, "I'm going to see what I can do. See you later...Sis." Ari joked.

"Thanks." I said and hugged him around his neck. Then he left me so I could sleep. I was grateful for the sleep that I did get. But not to long after Ari left he was back with a wheelchair.

"What is that?" I asked.

"Your ride." He laughed.

"What?" I asked and raised myself up on my elbows.

"Your back is broke, right? So they said we can go around as long as you sit in the wheelchair." Ari explained.

"Whatever it takes to get out of this room." I said and stood up. He let me do everything myself, he didn't try to do it for me. I liked this. He pushed me around until we reached a garden type place. It was amazing, like I was actually in the Amazon. Then Ari took me to a different room that was like the beach. The smell of salt water, the waves, sand, sunset, and the works. This was awesome.

"How?" I asked.

"A wave maker is hidden behind that wall…" He explained everything as he sat down next to me, laying his head against my wheelchair. I never wanted to leave this room; it reminds me of when we took that trip with the flock. I put my hands in my head and began to sob (I hate all these horrible hormones).

"What's wrong now?" Ari asked.

"Nothing. I want to go home." I said and broke down with full tears. I sat up and set my hands around my stomach.

"I'm so sorry," He said and reached up to hold one of my hands," I always wanted to be the best brother. I never wanted to do anything I did. I was forced. But let it be known from this day on, I'm going to be the best brother in the history of all nine planets." He laughed.

"Thanks." I said and gave his hand a little squeeze, and then he stood up to take me back to the room. I didn't refuse, just let him do whatever. My next few weeks were like this: sleep, eat, watch TV, eat, talked with Ari, go to my 'beach', sing to my baby, and then try to sleep… Sleep is so hard to get now. Up until one of the last weeks of my pregnancy, then they quit allowing me to leave the room. It drove me crazy, but Ari still came and played games with me. I met a girl that I recognized from New York, I found out her name is Rosetta. But we rarely got to see each other. Once again. Ari interrupts my thoughts.

"Ari are you getting any closer to getting me out?" I asked.

"I've made contact with the flock." He said in a very low tone.

"What?" I asked.

"Shhh! It took some time and effort but we've made an agreement. I will take you out but keep going and your flock will be waiting for you." Ari whispered.

"What about you?" I asked.

"What about me?" He asked.

"Will you come with us?" I asked.

"Are you sure? What would Fang say?"

"Who cares. And when is this supposed to take place?" I said.

"Tomorrow night."

"I can't wa-Ahh!" I suddenly screamed in pain and grabbed my stomach.

"You ok?"

"Yeah. Just the little one moving." I said.

"You want to get to bed? We've got a big day tomorrow." He said. I yawned and stood up then waddled to bed. If there's one thing I'm going to miss about here is the bed. I slept 5 minutes every now and then and would wake up. I normally just eat something or sing or talk to him then it will stop, I'll try that. I ate half a cup of ice cream and sang that song from Tarzan (You'll be in my heart- Phil Collins) then went back to bed. Thankfully it worked.


	14. Go Time

Chapter 14: Go Time.

Max POV

I woke up just like every other day, only today was different because I was being reunited with my real family. I was all happy and bouncy but people just played it off as the hormones. I took a shower, put on some clean clothes, ate some more, cleaned around, and did everything to keep from exploding with excitement. Ari came in when I was watching TV and sat down carefully.

"Everything is in place I will come get you at 7. Ok?" He whispered.

"Ok." I said, I looked at the clock and it said 5:30. OMB! What am I supposed to do for and hour and a half? I filled them with boredom and adrenalin. Finally the time came. I tried to be casual and did a pretty good job. He came in with a wheelchair and a grin; he told me the plan one last time. We are going to the garden, then we will be 'attacked', they will steal me, and Ari will come after us but never return. My lucky day, Rosetta is in the garden. She can come with us, and I motioned for her to come quickly.

"Rosetta!" I squilled.

"Yes?" She said and gave me a hug.

"We're getting out. In a few minutes we're getting busted out. Please stay near and come with us." I pleaded.

"Of course!" She replied.

When we got out there I searched the sky over and over. I saw them coming, but I looked away so it wouldn't be obvious. I could finally see them with my super awesome vision. Then they were swooping down and I was grabbed up by Fang. I instantly clung around his neck and kissed his face insanely, and he didn't fight against it as long as I didn't get in his way. I inhaled his sweet aroma of the woods. I looked at Iggy, he was wearing some cute little glasses that fit his personality.

"Fang." I said simply.

"MAX!" I heard the flock shout.

"Everyone!" I laughingly said back. We flew until we were far enough to take a break. I didn't need it, because I can't fly. Everyone instantly collapsed in a hug all around me. I was crying my eyes out. We didn't even talk, we just held each other.

"I mi-missed you all s-so mu-much." I stuttered through tears.

"Us to." Gazzy replied.

"Who is your girl friend?" Nudge asked.

"Oh. Sorry, this is Rosetta. We met her in New York, remember?" I asked.

"Yeah." Everyone replied and this time everyone was in on the hug, even Ari. We sat there once again in silence (besides tears and sobs) hugging each other.

"Let's get home." I said in a soft voice to avoid crying.

"Come on." Fang said and picked me up. They flew for 15 minutes, and then Fang made this irreplaceable face and asked me a question.

"Max, why are you wet?"

"What?" I said and checked myself and sure enough I was wet then I felt it, the first contraction. I screamed in unbearable pain.

"Angel! Where's the nearest hospital?" Fang demanded. She closed her eyes and listened intently.

"One mile straight." She said and came out of her trance.

"Guess we better fly fast." Iggy replied. I tried my best not to squirm and jerk but it hurt so bad, I was crying and horrified. Fang whispered and tried to use soothing words while I tried to seriously refrain from cussing everything that moved. We arrived, Ari and Rosetta stayed with the kids while Iggy and Fang carried me away.

"How long has it been since her water broke?" A nurse asked as they laid me down on a bed.

"Twenty minutes at least." Fang answered as he put my hair in a quick bun.

"And this is her first child?" She asked.

"Of course." Iggy replied while Fang was trying to calm me down.

"Does she want pain medication?" The nurse asked.

"WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK?" I said and popped up then fell backward in pain again. Fang sat on one side of me and Iggy on the other. This meant a lot to me, even though at the time I didn't show it. I had gone through excruciating pain before, but nothing quite like this. Every 5 to 7 minutes I would scream on horrifying pain.

"WHERE ARE THEY WITH THE FREAKING PAIN MEDICATION!" I yelled.

"They're coming." Fang said and continued to rub my hand with his thumb. They arrived in the following minutes with it and I had a few words to share with them that weren't so friendly. After a long while of just sitting there the actual doctor came in. Thank God it was a woman.

"So, what have we got here?" She tried to joke.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK!" I half screamed-half yelled. She put her hair up in a ponytail, and whispered something under her breath.

"Let's get you ready." She said, came over, adjusted my pillows, and did some different things. I saw her name tag said: Lisa. Then she took a seat at the end of the bed, propped my legs up, and pulled a mini table up with some tools on it.

"Ok. Take some deep breaths. In through your mouth, out through your nose." Lisa instructed. I did this little exercise and calmed down a little but quickly flared up.

"Have you smoked, drinked, do drugs, or have you done anything that might harm your baby?" Lisa asked.

"No." Fang replied for me since I was screaming at the current contraction.

"Have you had any complications during your pregnancy?" She asked.

"Like what?" I growled through gritted teeth.

"Never mind. Looks like we can begin." Lisa said.

"I've been ready for... 2 hours while you've been…CHIT CHATTING!" I said and screamed once more.

"Ok. Breath. Now when you feel the next contraction, push." She instructed and highered my legs where I couldn't see her anymore.

"Ow! Ow! Owieeee!" I cried and screamed as I gave my first push. I gripped Fang's and Iggy's hands so hard that I could feel their blood pumping through them. This is why I loved my family so much, they are always there for me, no matter what the circumstance. I looked dazzlingly at them, but they weren't sure what to do so they just stood there looking at each other then down at me.

"Good job. Now wait for the next one." Lisa said. This carried on for hours. Many tears and many words were shared. I got to a point where I thought I was actually dying, like literally dying. Not to mention my broke back.

"Please, just make it stop." I pleaded to anyone who would listen.

"Shh. It's going to be ok." Iggy said and he pushed back some stray hairs and wiped my forehead. Fang sat there trying to not cry along with me. I got through another hour. Fang kissed my hand then laid his head against the bed and began to mumble under his breath. I listened while I was waiting on the next one to come along and I realized he's praying. Fang praying? I guess desperate times call for desperate measures. We had been here I guess a little over 11 hours and I read somewhere that first time deliveries lasted at least 13 hours. Now they had let the rest of the family come in for last hour of the delivery, at least everyone that was awake. Which of course, the only one awake was Nudge.

"The head is visible. That's good news; it means we're almost done." Lisa said.

"A head. That's nice." Fang said to cheer me up.

"Agreed." Nudge chimed in then laughed.

"Yes." I said breathlessly. I went on a little more. Fang put a cold wash rag on my forehead and it felt wonderful. Ig just petted my hair and kept talking to me. When I lifted my hand to pull my shirt from around my neck (because it felt like it was choking me) I saw how bad my hands were shaking, and it was so involuntary.

"Three, two, one, and now," Lisa instructed but my body is so worn out that it was useless," Come on, Max, don't give up. One more push and the head will be out." I did my best and kept trying. They injected me with this stuff that's supposed to increase the power of my contractions, and when it got to where it was going, I shot straight up (into a sitting position), screamed and I held it out for nearly 7 seconds straight, once again Fang's and Iggy's hands were there to reassure me that everything's going to be ok. I was crying so badly. Then, my baby's cry.

"Good girl, Max. Wait a minute." She said. I knew she was clearing the airway for my baby.

"You're doing great. Now three good pushes and we'll be done." She told me.

"Wait, wait." I begged in tears.

"Ok." Lisa replied. I took a mini break to catch my breath. Fang was instructing me to breathe in through my nose and out though my mouth.

"Three, two, one, and now...now...," She directed me," Now give me a really big final one...now." And I followed her instructions with one last scream. It's over.

"It's all over now. Shh. Everything going to be alright, Max. I'm so proud of you." Iggy said and grabbed a dry rag then wiped away my sweat while Fang went to see about the baby. I barely saw Nudge take the first picture of the baby, Fang was holding him, which made me happy.

"He kind of reminds me of a grub worm." Nudge said as she turned her head sideways curiously.

"Let me see him." Iggy said with outstretched arms. Fang ever so gently placed him in Iggy's arms then Ig turned to me.

"Wow. You made one handsome boy. Would you like to see him, Momma?" Iggy asked.

"Yes," I said and reached for him with shaky hands as he gently passed him to me, "Yes, I did." Nudge crept quietly to where she could get a decent picture of me with him he was all cleaned up and wrapped in a cute baby blue blanket. I traced my index finger along his nose and jaw bone. Then, the most magical thing happened, he wrapped his hand around my finger. I couldn't help but smile like an idiot.

"What is his name?" Lisa asked.

"Figgy Orlando Ride." I said.

"Well, Figgy Orlando Ride, born on February 14th, 2011, at 8:45 a.m., weighs 7.5 pounds, and 20 inches long." She said as she handed a paper with all the information on it.

"Lisa." I asked timidly.

"Yes, Dear?" She said as she was beginning to leave.

"Thanks. I owe you everything in the world." I said.

"No, you don't owe me anything. You owe that baby everything. It was my pleasure. That's why I chose this job." She said and smiled then left. Soon the room was cleared and I was put on a clean bed. Little by little my family began to trickle in, but as soon as they made eye contact with one of us we immediately put a finger over our mouths to hush them. I gave him to Fang and rolled over and fell almost instantly to sleep. No one could blame me; I was up for nearly 20 hours and 12 hours was down right strenuous.

I woke to find everyone asleep (on either mats, or the couch, or the other bed) but Ari who was holding the baby. I laid there and watched him as he looked at Figgy with amazement. He had him cradled up in his right arm while the other supported the baby's head. He randomly looked up at me and saw that I was awake and stood up to bring him to me.

"It's hard to believe someone so good looking is related to me." He whispered gesturing toward the baby. I took Fig from Ari, laid back and stared endlessly at him.

"Couldn't have done it better, Sis." He joked quietly. I scooted over painfully and told him to sit with me on the bed. He didn't refuse, just lightly sat down and wrapped his arm around me and placed the other under my arms that were supporting my baby.

"What's it like being an uncle?" I teased.

"Well, I guess it's kind of great. What about you? What's it like to be a real mom?" He asked.

"The best thing in the whole wide world. I couldn't ask for more than this moment, to be here with my family and friends. This is all I've ever wanted." I said. When I looked around the room I saw Fang smile sheepishly, he's totally busted, he's not asleep.

"I wonder when I can get out of here." I asked and gently began to rock back and forth with Fig.

"I can ask the doctor if you want." Ari said.

"If it's not to much trouble." I replied.

"It's not." He gently slid off the bed and out of the room. Fang sat up, stretched, and took Ari's place on the bed.

"Can I?" He asked and nodded toward Figgy. I slowly passed him to Fang, and he began to coo the baby.

"You are going to be a heart stealer; every girl is going to want to date you." He said and bounced him very lightly in his arms. Everyone slowly began to wake up and gather around us.

"They said that they are going to come in and check you out to see if everything's ok, then they will let you leave." Ari reported.

"Let's get a group picture, when the nurse comes in she can take it." Nudge suggested.

"Sounds cool." Gazzy said. We sat around and talked about a little bit of everything, but mostly about the baby.

"Max, are you ok? You look pale." Rosetta asked.

"I-I feel kind o-of woozy." I said and suddenly the room seemed to spin. I mean, I had been queasy but I thought it was because I had just given birth. I pulled the cover off of me so I could stand up but under the blanket was a sea of blood; I saw that and passed out.

"Iggy! Here, take the baby!" I heard Fang shout from my. Then he hit the call button and sent the nurses in a tizzy with all his yelling.

"She has excessive bleeding, People!" I heard one nurse scream to the rest of his team. They put an oxygen mask over my mouth and nose and that's the last thing I remember. I must've been out for hours, because when I woke up Fang was asleep beside me in a chair, holding my hand with both of his. I hated that I was causing all this trouble for everyone. This whole thing was making me seem weak, and what in the world is that annoying beeping sound. I slipped my hand from Fang's to support me, and turned around to see that there was a heart monitor behind me. I on accident woke up Fang when I took my hand from his, I knew this because when I turned back he was staring at me. I didn't even have time to explain myself before Fang was in my face kissing me gently on the lips.

"I was so scared." He said and began to cry. I hugged him and scooted over so he could sit with me.

"I'm ok now." I comforted him.

"They said that you lost so much blood that it could've killed you." He said and let me lay back on him then he wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.

"I will never leave you or the flock or my baby alone in this horrible world." I somehow managed a mini laugh then clenched my stomach.

"No strenuous activities," Fang said and got up to go get a bag, "You've had one busy Valentine's Day. So I thought you might want these." He handed me a mini box of chocolates and a teddy bear holding a heart, and on the heart it said 'You'll be in my heart'.

"Aw. That's the song I sing to Fig. Wait, speaking of, where is he?" I asked and laid my gifts on the table and snuggled back on Fang.

"In the nursery and as for everyone else they were told to go home, but I stayed behind."

"Thanks. When can I go home?" I asked.

"Tomorrow, there isn't another episode."

"I'll try to avoid it then." I gave a half smile. Then I curled up even closer to Fang and he pulled the covers up to my shoulders. For the first time in along time, it felt like home. I slowly drifted to sleep and gave a little thanks to God for everything he had done for me today.


	15. Weirdness

Chapter 15: Weirdness

Max POV

I woke up ready for a new day, but Fang hadn't so I laid there and took in the silence. A little while later a nurse walked in.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I wasn't spying, I was just checking in on you. By the way, I'm Keith." He said in an Australian accent. I recognized him as the nurse who had come in first when I was over bleeding.

"I didn't think you were." I said and gave a little smile.

"Is there anything you need?" Keith asked.

"Can I have my baby?" I asked and blushed.

"Sure. Just give me one minute and I'll be back to talk to you." He said and left. OMB! He couldn't be but like 27. Man! He was hot. I'll come to the hospital voluntarily if he was my doctor. He didn't lie either, he was back in less than a minute and carrying my baby, but he came back with a female nurse. He gently passed him to me.

"We're here to answer any questions you might have." Keith said.

"I'm Chloe." the female said.

"Hi. I'm Max, this is Figgy, and this is Fang beside me." I introduced everyone. Why hasn't Fang woke up? He must be completely drained.

"And is he the father?" Chloe asked and both Keith and she pulled out chairs to sit on. Why does everyone ask that?

"No. Not that I'm aware of." I replied. Well, I guess he does look a little like Fang. I asked questions and they answered and vise versa. Then they left but Keith gave me his number in case I ever needed help with something. They were gone a while before Fang actually woke up.

"Hey, Sleepyhead."

"Hey, Max. Hello, Handsome." He said and pushed my hair aside to see Fig.

"What do you say about going home?" I said.

"Sounds good."

"Can you hold him while I shower and get dressed?" I asked.

"Of course." Fang said and stood up then I handed the baby to him.

"Are my clothes still here?" I asked.

"In that bag down there. The nurses offered to wash them, so I said sure." He said and pointed under the bed.

"Thanks." I said. I slowly slipped off the bed and into the shower. I had a black fuzzy sweater, gray sweat pants, and some flip-flops. I took advantage to brush my hair and teeth. By the time I was done, I felt like a new girl. I came out to find Fang walking around the room bouncing Figgy lightly. He handed me the baby and went to the bathroom.

_"Now stop your crying, it'll be alright take my hand, hold it tight. I will protect you from all around you. I will be here don't you cry. For one so small, you seem so strong. My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm. This bond between us can't be broken. I will be here don't you cry." _I sang to him even though he was asleep. Tarzan was my favorite movie growing up, and Jeb let me watch it as many times as I wanted. I could quote it back then.

"Ready, Momma?" Fang teased.

"Yes." I answered. We left the room and checked out. Angel conplused them that we didn't have to pay. We took a taxi, this probably wasn't the best thing for a 2 day old, but it's our only option. I held the baby securely in my arms. We are making a surprise visit to see Steve at the store. I couldn't wait until I could see him. I missed him a lot.

We got there I practically hopped out the car.

"Steve? It's me Jordan." I said. It took a second but I remembered what name I used. I saw him with a box of stuff he was about to stock up but he dropped it and ran. He slowed down when he got close but still gave a huge hug.

"Is this?" He stopped and I nodded.

"This is my baby. Figgy."

"Wow. Figgy. You're going to be a handsome boy." He talked to Fig and I held out for Steve to hold him. He scooped him up and talked to him for what seemed forever in his baby tone.

"Sorry I haven't been able to come to work. I have been sick and I was told to stay on bed rest for the baby. It's been very painful to move." I explained. That's what Fang told me to say.

"It's fine. Here you can have him back. How old is he?" Steve asked and handed me Figgy.

"Two days." I replied and stared down at him.

"Oh how precious." He said.

"We'd better get home so the others don't freak out." Fang said and wrapped his arms around me and turned me around.

"Ok." I said and sounded all bummed.

"Bye." Steve waved good-bye. I waved with my free arm and kept walking. Luckily, the Taxi was still sitting there. Fang hopped in and I gently slipped in, and the baby began to wake up because of all the motion.

"Hey there." I said in very mommy tone. Fang joined me in cooing the baby; he even carried the baby in.

"You're back!" Gazzy screamed and ran to hug me. Soon everyone else joined the hug like back when I was first broken out.

"I love you all so much." I said and did a head count. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Wow, there's going to be ten people in the house.

"Who's hungry?," Iggy asked as we pulled from the hug," What about stir fry?"

"Oh. Sounds yummy." Nudge said. Iggy left to start dinner.

"All baby's pretty much do is sleep. Huh." Total stated.

"Well. I guess." I said as I placed a little blanket over Fig, which was in a bouncer in front of me. It was like freaking freezing. We talked for a while and laughed about different things.

"Food's ready." Iggy called. Everyone immediately left. Then, as I stood up Figgy began to cry. So I rocked him for a bit, but persisted in crying.

"You must be hungry." I said to him in a baby tone. I remembered Keith and Chloe telling me that since my episode I hadn't been healthy enough to breast-feed him, I need to bottle-feed him. I made my way through the sea of people to the people, but when I got to the refrigerator, Iggy took Fig from my arms and demanded that I go eat and that he'll feed the baby. He positioned Fig in one of his arms and used the other to get out the milk, warm it over the stove, and then pour it into a bottle. (One day, he's going to be a super dad.) I forgot to mention, Steve had given us some left over stuff from his kid, that's why we had so much stuff. He walked out of the kitchen, into the living room, and sat down on the rocking chair. He gently rocked back and forth while holding the bottle. (Thank God, everyone was either engrossed with their food or a conversation, only I got to see this.). Iggy was so gentle with him, he cooed Fig as he drank the bottle, then placed a rag over his shoulder and stood up. He lifted Figgy to his shoulder and began to burp him.

"Good one. Feel better now?" Ig said and threw the rag into the laundry room. He sat back down and rocked the baby some more. He stood up once more, walked around in a circle with him until he fell asleep, then went down to my room and I guess he put him the crib because he came back empty handed. Everyone had finished and I had stayed behind to clean up. But I set a plate on the table for Iggy.

"You don't have to do that." Ig said trying to take the scrubber pad from me.

"Yes, I do. Now go eat." I said and pointed to the table.

"I can eat later." He protested.

"I've got it. I've not been here to do it for almost 3 months. Now go enjoy your food." I said. Everyone was in the living room playing some sort of guessing game. He ate, then finished, and I made him go to the living room with the others. But Ari came in and stood beside me.

"Max, I've got to talk to you." He said and made me jump.

"Shoot?" I said and gave a smile.

"There's two things. One, I have to leave; I can't stay and endanger you all and the baby. Two, do you really want to know the baby's daddy?" He asked solemnly.

"You're what?" I asked and began to get teary eyed.

"I can't stay; they could be tracking me down." He said and reached across the table but I jerked away.

"Fang's the dad." He blurted out but not enough to be heard in the living room.

"WHAT!" I said and stood up so fast that my chair flipped backward. I put pieces together that made sense, and probably the most likely scenario.

"Not my fault." He said and through his hands up. I didn't know what to say or what to feel. I just stood up and went back to my room, and locked the door. I walked over to my baby, I saw Winnie the Pooh stuff everywhere. Must be the stuff Steve gave us. I leaned over the crib to see my baby. Oh-my-. I put my hand over my mouth before I let out a mini scream. Fig looked like Fang. He had Fang's hair, nose, and mouth. I slowly sank to the floor and began to cry. Why! Why, of all people, Fang! I mean, I'm glad and all but-. What if he really leaves if I tell him? I couldn't not tell him, that would be cruel. I held myself and rocked back and forth. Then a knock at the door disturbed me.

"You ok? Are you crying?" Fang asked.

"Yeah, I just…um…stubbed my toe on the crib." I made up a lie.

"So, why is the door locked?" He asked and sounded annoyed.

"I'm changing." I fibbed again. Then, I heard a pop, he unlocked it. I quickly threw my shirt off and began to dig through a drawer.

"Yeah, my drawer is going to help." He pointed to where my drawer was.

"Just looking." I said.

"Why are you upset, Max?" He asked and shut the door.

"I stubbed my toe."

"No. Don't lie to me. I've known you for 14 years; I kind of know when you're lying." He said and leaned over the crib to look at Fig.

"Do you really want to know?" I asked.

"Yes." He replied.

"Y-y-you are the - the-." I couldn't manage the word out.

"I'm the what?" He asked and sounded irritated.

"DAD!" I yelled unintentionally.

"What," He was looked like he was piecing things together, "They wouldn't would they?"

"That's what A-Ari told m-me." I stammered. He was emotionless, maybe even upset in a mad way. He inhaled deeply then huffed.

"If you wan to go, well, there's a door!" I yelled and pointed to the door.

"I hate when you do this!" He emaphized hate.

"When I do what?" I asked and rubbed my shirt over my eyes and cheeks to wipe away tears that Fang should have been.

"When you put up a guard so no one can see your emotions, telling people to leave when they get to close, and if they don't you do." He stated.

"That's because every time I do that person always hurt me! Like Jeb. Like Valencia! Like Anne!"

"I'm sorry but you've got to trust us, Max."

"I do trust and love all of you, it's just I don't want to be hurt again." I said and slipped slowly down to the ground and bent over crying. I felt two reassuring arms wrap around me. Then Fig began to whimper from all the commotion. I stood up to go to him, but Fang grabbed my arm and turned me around.

"Max, I will never hurt you. I love so much, even I can't comprehend it. I've been in love with you since Jeb left, when I saw how strong and caring you really were I was stunned. I've done everything I can to make you feel special, I've watched the flock while I forced you to bed, I've bought things for, and so on. But you know what, I don't care about all that. I just love to see you smile." He said and gave me a kiss or two.

"I love you too." I said relieved and we leaned our foreheads together and smiled at each other. Fig was still whimpering so we both stood up and looked at my baby while I reach in to pick him up. Wait... I should be saying our baby. Wow. It felt weird to say that.

"Just look at him." I wondered how he just accepted this fact. I thought he would ask questions that I would have difficult time explaining. But I guess he somehow connected the dots. We decided to not go back out, we just left the door shut, and took turns rocking Fig. Fang sat down in the rocking chair (that was in our room) and held out his hands for the baby, but instead I sat down horizontally on his lap with my feet hanging over the side while I held Fig as he face toward Fang. Fang rocked all three of us. Figgy was fully awake and staring intently at us, switching every few minutes.

"Looks like ya'll are tired." I sad after Fang yawned and the baby was nodding off. I stood up and waited for Fang. He stood up and I handed him the baby, I went and laid down while he put the baby to bed. I stayed awake for a little bit, in case Fig woke back up. He didn't so I drifted to sleep. I woke up and rolled over to look at Fang. He was already awake, and sitting up on his bed, and had a sleeping Fig on his lap. Fang was staring intently yet lovingly at our baby, so much so that he didn't see me wake up. Fig woke up and Fang smiled from ear to ear. He picked up the baby and kissed him on the forehead, that made my heart skip three beats.

"How about we let mommy sleep and we go see who else is up?" He asked the baby. I faked a yawn and raised up.

"Mommy's up now." I said happily.

"Want to join us?" He asked.

"Yeah." I said and jumped out of bed.

"We both have work today, so Iggy is going to have to watch the kids." Fang said.

"Why can't he come with us?" I asked.

"Because he is so little. He doesn't have an immune system, if someone with a little cold walked by him, he could get very sick. I couldn't stand that." He said and shifted the baby to the other arm.

"Good point." I winked.

"I wonder if Uncle Iggy is up." We teased when we heard movement in the kitchen. We walked in and saw Iggy reading a magazine.

"Yeah, been up since sunrise. Give him to me." He said and looked up. Fang passed Fig to Iggy, and Ig sat back down.

"There's coffee and pop tarts." Ig said.

"Thanks." I replied and tassled his hair as I walked by.

"Can you watch the kids today? Both me and Max work."

"Yeah."

"Here hold him while I go to the bathroom." Iggy said and passed him to me. Then Fig had to use the potty too. He cried frantically. I went back to the room and laid him on top of the changing station. I was used to this because I raised Angel since she was a baby to, I had more than my fair share of changing diapers.

"It's ok. Give me a minute." I cleaned him all up and he was a happy boy after that. I changed him from his night cloths to a nice comfy shirt that said 'Momma's 1 baby'.

"Let's go see Daddy and Uncle Iggy, what do you think about that?" I cooed him and rubbed me nose with his. I picked him up and went back to the kitchen.

"Let's see. There's Barney, Dinosaur Train, Blue's Clues, and a few others Steve gave you. Why don't you pick one to watch." I talked to Fig. He just looked at me so I put in Barney, then out him in his little indoor swing and placed it a seven feet from the TV.

"Ig." I said.

"Yeah." He looked up from his Sports Illustrated.

"Fig is going to need to be fed in two hours at least, but if he cries before then feed him. Don't leave him alone all day. If he gets sleepy you know what to do. Got that?" I demanded in a kind tone.

"I'm offended. You don't think I will take care of my favorite nephew?" He joked and pretended to grab his heart in distress.

"Love you. Ig. See ya later." I said and kissed him on top of his head then I dragged Fang out the door.

"It's nice to walk- wait let's fly." I said and jumped up. I, for the first time in a long time, unfurled my wings and began to fly. I just love this fresh, crisp, Tennessee air.


	16. Hard Times

Chapter 16: Hard Time

Max POV

"Steve!" I greeted him with a big hug.

"Hey. What's up?" He said.

"Nothing much. And you?" I asked and took my jacket off to hang it up.

"Same. Sorry it's just weird not seeing you, you know pregnant."

"It's fine. I know the feeling." I shrugged it off. All I thought about today was either my baby or when I woke this morning and saw Fang kiss Fig. When we had a break, Fang came over and began to talk.

"Hey." He said and pulled a chair up.

"Hey, yourself. Can I ask you something and you not get offended?"

"Sure." He shrugged.

"You know when I told you what Ari said?" He nodded," How come you just accepted? Why didn't you think I was lying?" I asked.

"Ari told me while after you had been stolen. As if I wasn't already going crazy trying to find you, he had to go explain how I'm the dad. What they did to both of us. I didn't show it to the flock, but I was angry and sad. I sat up for nights opening and closing my eyes, as if when I opened like them you would be there." He explained.

"Then how come you were upset?"

"I told Ari not to tell you, because you might get upset and leave."

"Fang, I couldn't leave you or the flock for the world."

"I was scared and out of mind." He laughed.

"Me too. If Ari wasn't there to help me, I or Figgy could maybe be dead right now." I said.

"Don't talk like that. You're home and safe. Let's finish up and go home." That's exactly what we did. We finished and walked a little bit out of sit and began to fly. Like I've said just a 5 to 10 minute flight. We got home and the kids were already in bed except for Iggy and Fig. He was walking in circles calming the baby. We didn't go in immediately we watched from outside. It was cute, Fig wasn't crying he was just awake. We let Ig have his time, so both of us started pointing out constellations. But after a while it got cold so we knocked on the door.

"Come on, Iggy. It's cold." I said through the door.

"One minute." He said and slowly made his way to the door.

"How's momma's baby?" I asked in a happy tone and took him from Iggy.

"Just got done eating and a while ago and changed a diaper an hour ago." He said and smiled.

"You changed a diaper?" Fang asked sarcastically.

"No. I made Nudge." Iggy said manipulatively. I don't even want to know what he said to her to make her do that.

"Iggy, can we tell you something?" I asked and Fang made a motion with his hand over his throat, indicating that I should quit talking. I shook my head.

"Yeah."

"Promise you won't tell a soul?" I asked and he nodded. I told all we knew about our situation. He didn't say anything at first.

"Well, I've got something to tell you to. I really like Rosetta." He said and stared down at his fingers.

"That's great." Fang said and was playing with Fig on the floor.

"No it's not. She could never like a guy like me. Forget I said anything." He shook it off.

"Fang. You know what we gotta do?" I asked with a wink and he nodded.

"What?" Iggy asked all panicked.

"You got to learn how to properly treat a girl. If you really like Rosetta, then start with small things. Like, sit next to her at dinner, ask her how she's doing, when she looks nice, tell her so." I lectured. He pretended to take notes on his hand. It made me laugh. Fang got up on the couch with Figgy in his arms and joined in on the conversation.

"Buy her flowers or pick her some wild ones." Fang threw in. Fig began to squirm in his arms and Fang handed him to me.

"What's wrong with my boy? Huh?" I smiled. He totally relaxed when I held him.

"You must have a calming effect." Fang said.

"No. Just he senses momma and can relax knowing no one can harm him here." I explained. We talk for a while and then Fig started to get fussy. I took him to bed with me and let the guys stay up. I didn't put Fig in the crib, I laid him on my chest so I could hear him breathe. I slightly propped myself up and laid him on me. He was so little, so fragile, and so beautiful. He was wearing a little nighty and a cap. He wasn't quite ready for sleep yet so I played with him a little bit. I sat him down on the bed so I could change into some night clothes, but when I set him down, he began to whimper. Therefore, I had only one hand to dress myself with. I laid back down and waited for him to go to sleep. I heard him breathing, it was relaxing. I drifted off, at least until Fang came in and woke him up. I rolled my eyes and lightly bounced him, that didn't work so I walked in circles and patted his back.

"Sorry. Can I help?" Fang whispered.

"Can you get a bottle?" I asked. He nodded.

"Shh. Shh. It's ok. Momma's here. Dad's getting a bottle." I comforted him. He was now kind of crying. Finally, Fang returned. I took the bottle and sat in the rocker. As he drank, I sang lightly to him. Once again, he began to nod off and so did I. I leaned my head against the rocker and fell asleep. Fang picked up Figgy's limp, sleeping body and told me to go to sleep. I didn't wait one second, I was in the bed and asleep in no time.

Fang POV

Max is so pretty when she sleeps, she's like an angel. I sat down with Fig and laid him on my chest. I hardly move when I sleep so I had no problem letting him lay on my chest. I laid him on his belly, it felt somewhat weird. I rubbed his back until he fell asleep then placed his little blanket over him. His little hand reached out for my finger and grasped it tightly as a month old baby could. I felt sleepy to, I placed one arm around Fig and the other was being held by his hand. I glanced over at Max, she is too pretty to be real. Even her light snore is kind of cute, she has to have one flaw to prove she's real. I can barely hold my eyes open. So good night.

I woke up and everyone was still asleep, and Fig was still asleep on top of me (Thanks goodness I didn't smoosh him). I slowly rose up and supported Fig's back and head with my arm. He barely opened his little eyes, and then quickly shut them. I gave a little laugh.

"Let's go get some grub. Sounds good." I carried him to the kitchen and looked at the clock. It's only 5:15. This is going to be a long day. I'm still used to having first watch, you know, from when we lived on the run. So getting up this early isn't a big deal. I grabbed a pop tart for me and a bottle for Fig. Since it was early we went to the living room and cut on the TV. As soon as I turned on I saw a picture of flames and some news lady talking about an explosion. I stopped and watched.

_"An explosion has claimed the lives of the two people who lived here. Dr. Valencia Martinez and Ella Martinez. It's believed that, on __purpose, there was explosives placed around the home. We'll keep you __updated as we learn more on the subject." _The news women said. I muted the TV so I could have silence to think. Should I tell Max or wait until she wakes up. I'll probably be safer if I wait. Who could have done this? Ari? Jeb? No, Jeb wouldn't have the heart. Well, he did leave six mutant kids to fend for themselves. Whatever, I'll think about it later.

"Well, looks like there's one grandparent you're not going to meet." I joked with Fig. I wonder about my parents, you know, what they were like. I wondered if my mom knew what she was doing when she gave me away. That would be like Max giving up Figgy, she's about the same age as my mom supposedly was.

"What are you doing?" A very sleepy sounding Angel said from behind me.

"Nothing. What are you doing?" I said, she sat next to me and rubbed up against my shoulder.

"Was going to get something to eat, but I decided against it." She shrugged.

"Is everything ok?" I asked trying to sound interested.

"No. It's 5 in the morning and I'm awake." She snuggled even closer to me to steal my body heat and fell asleep. I cut the TV back on but lowered the volume. I waited until she was really asleep until I take her back to her room. I set Fig in his bouncy chair and carried Angel to her room. I, for some reason, glanced over to look at Nudge, but she wasn't there. Instantly went into panic mode. I checked the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, and looked in everyone's rooms.

"Crap." I said to myself. Ok. Where didn't I check? Front and back porches? It's worth a shot. As I walked to the front door I put a blanket over a sleeping Figgy. No Nudge out front, but I listened and I heard sobbing coming from around back. I gently closed the door, and walked around back. There she was, sitting under a tree with her back against the tree, her legs pulled up to her chest, and her head hanging down. I sat down next to her and wrapped a blanket around both of us. She was startled, and was quickly trying to wipe the tears form her face.

"What are you doing out here? You're going to freeze to death. What's wrong, NuNu?" I asked. She took a deep breath and calmed herself.

"I was scared, and I didn't want to wake anyone up. So I went out here." She explained.

"Why were you scared?"

"I was scared because I had a nightmare and in it everyone but me died. I was left alone. I didn't know what to do. Then, when I woke up I thought more on the subject. I thought what if all the flock turns on me? What if they all do die, because everyone dies..." She rambled on. I let her get it out of her system.

"NuNu, we will never leave you. Never. Ever. And yes people do die. But hopefully before we die, you will find someone special and marry them. If they hurt you, me and Max will hurt him right back." I joked and she laughed.

"Thanks, Fanny." She gave me a hug and sat back down.

"Let's go in before we get sick? How about some hot chocolate with marshmallows? Then you can go back to be or stay with me." She nodded and I helped her up. We quietly came in. I knew that Nudge was most likely going to be sick. I gave her the hot chocolate and drank my own. After she finished, told her she needed to sleep and she went back to bed. I picked the baby back up and laid down on the couch with him. He sleeps like Max, once asleep nothing can wake them up. I stroked his back and drifted to sleep myself. Soon awakened by instinct, I heard a noise, but it was just the heating turning on. One more look at the clock: 7:30 a.m. Better get the day started. Start with getting Iggy and Gazzy up. Iggy can have his rough days but mostly he just stumbles outta bed then into the shower, and Gazzy sits and stares at one place on the wall until he's conjured up enough energy to get out of bed. I ask Iggy to start breakfast while I get the others up. Next, Angel. I'm not going to wake up Nudge, because she had a rather horrible night. Angel usually takes at least 3 times of waking up to get up. But nothing like Nudge, someone has to drag her of bed or pour some type of liquid on her.

"Angel, come on girl. Breakfast in 5 minutes. Don't wake NuNu up. Ok." I said gently tosseling her hair, she raised up and Total perked his ears up.

"Whatever." She said and began to wiggle free from the blankets. I left from there to go get Max.

"Max. Max, get up." She gave a groan and rubbed her eyes. By now, the house was bustling with noise and laughs.

"Hey. You know we have today off, right?" She asked and raised herself on her elbows.

"Yeah, but I figured we can do something fun." I shrugged.

"Let me up so I can eat." She half smiled and then dashed out of the room. I just had a very confused look on my face and went to join the commotion.


	17. Bath Time

Chapter 17: Bath Time.

Max POV

I entered the kitchen and Gazzy was holding Fig, Iggy was flipping pancakes, and Angel was sitting at the table half asleep. After I took a seat next to Gazzy, Fang walked in.

"Max, He looks just like you." Gazzy said.

"You think so?" I asked and rustled his hair.

"I know so." He stated. I traced my finger gently up and down Figgy's arm.

"I guess you're used to this big bother thing, aren't you?"

"Sure am." He gave the cutest little smile and I hugged him. I got up and started setting the table. Soon everyone was at the table and ready to eat. I took Fig form Gazzy so he could eat.

"Where's Nudge?" I asked.

"In bed. She had a bad night and is most likely going to be sick." Fang said.

"Ok. What are we going to do today? Fang and I are off. We can do something fun." I asked and took a bite of food.

"What about that pond you showed us? It's kind of hot for a March day." Angel said.

"Good idea." I said and searched the room for someone to suggest something else. Nudge came in and sat in the chair between Gazzy and Angel.

"We can invite Rosetta." I piped up and looked at Iggy; he shot me a death glare and returned to his empty plate. I hadn't mentioned this, but not long after Ari left, Rosetta moved. She didn't move far, just maybe a 20-minute drive, so a 10 minute flight.

"Sounds good. We can get a watermelon." Fang suggested. We called Rosetta and started getting ready. I rubbed Fig and me down to the core with sun block. I put my bikini on under my tank top and some shorts. My regular shorts, not maternity clothes. It feels good. I put Fig in a floaty suit, even though he wouldn't be leaving my arms.

"Everyone ready? Fang, can you grab the diaper bag?" I shouted.

"Already got it." He rounded the corner with it over his shoulder. As people finished getting ready, they started gathering in the living room. I did a head count and herded everyone out the door. The little ones flew only a few feet above our heads and Iggy went up there to watch them.

"You know what just occurred to me?" I asked Fang.

"What is that?" He asked.

"I wasn't here for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. They had me that entire time. You know, you're a big trouble maker." I said to Fig, who was in Fang's arms, then patted his belly. Fang and I never had a chance, we were the oldest and we took it upon ourselves to be the 'parents'. I'm sure the flock appreciated it, but I never had a childhood. I'm not complaining, I love my life and my family. If Jeb hadn't of done what he did none of us would be who we are. Who knows? Nudge, Angel, and I might be preppy, cheerleading, brand name whores. Fang and Iggy might be football stars, and Gazzy might... well you never know with Gazzy.

"Just up ahead." Angel shouted above us then she dived down right in the water.

"I'll give it a 9.7," I shouted when she resurfaced.

"I think from my angle it's an 8.9," Iggy shouted down. But we applauded to her and she gave a bow. Then Gazzy sent himself down. We judged and then they all went swimming under the water. I made my way slowly in with Fig. His foot touched the water and he immediately pulled it back along with his other three limbs.

"Is it cold baby?" I asked and he let his foot drop again and let it stay there. I sat where the water barely covered my thighs and held Figgy in front of me. I didn't expect a month old baby to have much to do with the water, but he liked it just fine. I watched everyone closely, I just had this feeling that something's was up. But I always feel like that. I watched Fang as he walked over to me, he shook his head to shake the water from his longish hair, then sat down next to me.

"What's up, Shaggy?" I joked about his hair even though it looks good.

"Nothing much, Daphne." He joked about my being captured.

"Oh ha-ha." I rolled my eyes and smiled.

"Actually, I need to talk to you. This morning I was watching the news and... um...and I was that the place where Valencia and Ella lived was blown up." He said quickly. I laughed and he looks at me as if I was crazy.

"I don't care. She tried to kill me."

"This is much better than I expected." He shrugged. I leaned over on his shoulder as I held Fig in my arms. My gaze fell over to Iggy who was sitting just a few yards away from us. He and Rosetta where talking and smiling.

"You think he will get his happily ever after?" I asked as I lay back on Fang.

"I hope. I know I have mine." He said to me.

"Am I really?" I asked all starry eyed. He bent over and gave me a kiss. Fig began to get fussy and I laid him on the ground to see if he just didn't want to be held. He rolled himself into a mud pile and made a giggle noise. Fang picked him up.

"Hey, Ig! We got to go. Watch the kids?" I asked.

"Sure."

"Thanks. Be home by 12. I'll have lunch ready. Rosetta, you're invited too." I shouted and ran to catch up with Fang and Fig.

"You're going to get a bath, Mister." I said.

"Oh no. Not a bath." Fang joked with a playful snarl. When we went in the house, I took the baby and told Fang to grab some clean clothes, a diaper, a soft towel, and few other necessities. I held him as I ran the water in the kitchen sink. I put my wrist over the water to make sure it wasn't to hot. It seemed like it was fine, I set him in the water and he went crazy.

"You liked the other water just fine. What's wrong with this water?" I asked. Fang came in with the supplies and hid his laugh. I snatched the stuff with my free hand. I got all the mud off him and laid him on the towel that was on the counter. I dried him off and dressed him. Fang took and fed him while I got lunch ready. I made hot dogs and cut up a watermelon. I turned around as I set the table, and just in time to Fang carry Fig down the hall to bed. IIt doesn't matter how many times I see Fang and him together I melt on the inside.

"Need any help?" He whispered.

"Is Fig asleep?" I asked. He nodded. I shook my head no and we plopped down on the couch together.

"When I was washing him today, I saw two things on his back. They looked like skin tags. Do you think they're his wings?" I asked.

"Maybe."

"I hope, if they are, that he gets them from me. He looks just like you. I want him to have at least one thing like me." I stated.

"Is there something wrong with looking like me?" He asked and closed his eyes to rest.

"No." I shrugged. I convinced him to go back to the room and sleep. I picked up and sat down just in time for everyone to come tromping in through the house and drag all the dirt with them. I gritted my teeth and took a big breath.

"Food's on the table." I said.

"Thanks Max." The whole crowd said in one voice.

_(Skip some months.)_

"Come on, Fig. Come to Momma." I coaxed Fig. We are trying to him to walk. Fang holds his hand as he stands only a few feet from me. Iggy has a video camera recording everything. Fang takes a mini step forward and Fig takes one too. We all burst out in smiles. Fang takes another step and Fig tries to take two, then Fang lets go of his tiny hands and lets him toddle over to me. Fig makes the 2 foot journey he has left with a tumble but gets back up. He falls into my arm, and everyone else claps.

"That's my baby." I say and swing him gently.

"Who wants ice cream?" Nudges asks and hands out bowls. Fig and I are still sitting in the floor, I take my bowl and Fig got his and dug through it like it was air. He had it on his head, his feet, and all over his clothes.

"You never cease to amaze me." Fang said and picked up the baby. Fang took a rag and wiped him clean the changed his clothes. He again held Fig's hands to get him to walk. He did then it took so that Fang just picked him up. Fig could now make noises that resembled words but not actually saying them.

_(Skip a couple more)_

We are all sitting at the table finishing eat breakfast, when it happened. We sat still to see if it happened again.

"Momo." Fig said from his playpen in the living room. Iggy ran to go get his video camera. Both me and Fang raced to get there first. We

peeked around the corner, he was standing against the edge looking for

me.

"Momo. Dede." He asked. We figured out immediately that 'Dede' was daddy.

"We're here." I said because he was practically pleading for us. When we came around the corner he held up his arms because he wanted to be picked up. When we didn't pick him up he asked for Iggy, only he called him 'IeIe' (sounding only like saying the letter 'E' twice). After that I picked him up and put him on my hip. He spent the rest of his day asking for us, except when we put a movie for him to watch. He was asleep not to long after that. This was a bad part on me. He was crying all night, I held him for a while but when I would put him back down he could continue. I wondered in amazement how Fang could sleep through this. I did everything: I fed him, I sang to him (that worked for awhile but he woke up again). You know this isn't his usual style, he normally just goes to sleep. I couldn't take it anymore, it's about 2:30 a.m. I have to wake up Fang.

"Fang. Please get up. I have to work tomorrow but I can't get to sleep because Fig won't stop crying." I asked as tears ran down my cheeks. He raised up and held his arms out. I laid down and Fang walked out of the room and shut the door. I fell asleep in 5 minutes.

I woke up but the stupid songbird wouldn't shut up. I stumbled into the kitchen, but before I caught a glimpse of Fang. He was asleep on the couch with Fig asleep on his chest. If only you imagine how precious that is to me. I got Nudge's picture camera and cut the flash then took a picture because I wanted this moment to last forever.


	18. Asking the Question

Chapter 18: Asking the question.

Max's POV

_(AN: You're likely to get mad at me but we're skipping just under 3 years. __Max, Fang, and Iggy are 18. Nudge is 14. Gazzy and Angel nearly 9 or __10. Fig is just under 3 years old. Rosetta and Iggy are in a __relationship, she has even moved in with them. Fang and Max are __officially dating. Iggy works at a bakery down the street from Steve's __place.)_

Fang has been acting weird lately. Like when he sees me he'll blush or just look down. I've finally worked up the 'nerve' to ask him what's up.

"What's wrong?" I ask and place my hand on his knee.

"Nothing. What are you talking about?" He asks defensively.

"I guess nothing." I said and began to walk away.

"Want to get out tonight?"

"Sure."

"Let's go to that park where they show a free movie on Friday night. Sounds fun to me." He shrugs.

"Cool." I go get ready and grab a blanket in case it gets cold.

"Momma!" I hear Fig scream and I run to find him, Iggy, and Gazzy are covered with flour and what ever other mess in the kitchen they can make.

"What happened?" I demand in a soft tone.

"We had some fun. Giving him the childhood we never had. Come on, Max, have a heart." Ig pleads sarcastically. I roll my eyes.

"All of you take a shower and you two clean up any mess that you leave behind you. We'll be back around 10. Ok? I love ya'll."

"Later." Gazzy calls out. I wave everyone good bye but it's worthless to wave at the girls because their watching a Brad Pitt movie and all caught up in that. Interview with the Vampire. At least I think. The movie that was being played at the park was Stardust. Fang rested against a tree and I rested on him then threw the blanket over us. We watched the movie, and then we got ice cream. Fang was acting even weirder now.

"Max let's take a break?" He asks and gestures to a bench.

"Sure." I say. He doesn't take a seat beside me. He kneels down in front of me.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Max, I will never hurt you. I love so much, even I can't comprehend it. I've been in love with you since Jeb left, when I saw how strong and caring you really were I was stunned. I've done everything I can to make you feel special, I've watched the flock while I forced you to bed, I've bought things for, and so on. But you know what I don't care about all that. I just love to see you smile. I love you. Will you marry me, Max?" He was holding a little box in his hand. I recognized those as the word he told me when I was so upset a month after I was brought home. We were both sitting on the floor and he came to my rescue. He looked at me longingly.

"Yes." I sat and wrap my arms around his neck. We kiss then break apart so I can put the ring on. It was gold with two diamond hearts with an 'F' and "M' engraved into either heart. This is the way it's supposed to be right? Me and Fang together. All the crap we've been through together, must've meant something. It does. Fang and I are in love and no one will ever change that. We walked home hand-in-hand.

"Hello?" I called out.

"Shhh." Iggy calls from the darkness. I feel around for the light switch, there it is. I cut it on and see that he has Fig in his arms holding him.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"He's finally asleep." He explains. I reach my arms out to pick him up, making sure he can catch a glimpse of my ring. Fig gives a moan and rubs his eyes. I carry him to his room and cut his night light on. He's asleep and the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I kiss him on his forehead and leave.

"Oh! Congratulations!" Iggy says and me a hug that nearly knocks me backward.

"Thanks." I hug him back.

"Where are the girls?" Fang asks.

"In Rosetta's room having 'girl talk time'." Iggy says with quotation fingers.

"I'll go tell them." I make my way to their room.

"Knock knock."

"Max! Come in. We've got to ask you something." Nudge says eagerly. I sit down on the floor next to Angel and begin playing with her hair.

"What is that on your finger?" Rosetta asks and her jaw nearly drops to the floor.

"No way!" Nudge yells. I nod my head and put my hand up for their inspection. They take in each detail.

"You've got to let us help plan this." Nudge suggests with hands on her hips.

"You can plan everything." I shrug completely lost in a daze. Angel gets a notebook out and takes notes on everything they say. Which is a lot. I hear whining from my room where Fig is asleep.

"Got to go." I hop up.

"Mommy." He cries again. I scoop him up and hold him close.

"What's wrong, Baby?" I cuddle him.

"I was scared."

"Want to come sit with momma? We can talk to Dad and Uncle Iggy." He nods his head we leave the room. He softly twists the end of my hair around his finger. We sit down and he becomes more interested in the toy T-rex that he got for Christmas. He grabs it and return to my lap promptly.

"What's up?" Fang asks Fig and takes him from my lap. He wraps his arms around Fang's neck and snuggles up against his shoulder. He is his daddy's twin. No doubt about it.

"He got scared, Daddy." I say in a sympathetic tone. Fang soothes him and begins to rub Fig's back gently.

"Want to stay with me tonight? We can watch a movie and have some fun." He tempted the boy. Fig does say anything he just nods his head.

"I love you, Baby. If you need anything I'll be in bed. I would stay with you but I have to go to work." I kiss both of them and go to bed. I change into my PJs and stare at my ring for a while. I go to sleep on my thoughts of my future.

_**What did you think? Did you like it? Please review. It means a lot. And **__**want to know what crossed my mind a few days ago? I've never Iggy's **__**POV. That would interesting, wouldn't it? Thanks. ^_^**_


	19. A Love Letter and Other Things

Chapter 19: A Love Letter and Other Things

Max's POV

I woke up with my baby cradled up next to me, and holding tightly to my shirt. I manage to sit up without waking him, I lay him down next to Fang and it's as if they automatically lock onto each other. I wake up Iggy because he has to work as well. Most of the time all three of us work and Rosetta watches the kids. While Iggy jumps in the shower, I go to the kitchen, but on the table there is a simple rose and a letter under the rose. The letter had 'Max' written on it, so I pick it up and gently unfold it.

_It's so amazing, so strange and so rare, that I can look to my side and find you standing there. Who ever thought? Who ever knew? Against all odds that we'd make it through. Some how it's so amazing. Who could foretell? Who could foresee our love it's so amazing. We get to hold, we get to dream, it's so amazing. The thought is so dazing. I can't believe my mind, to think that I now possess the dream my heart most desires. I never thought. I never knew. Against all that we'd make it through. Somehow it's just so amazing. And it's our love. I love you, __Max. Forever and Ever. ~ Fang_

I fold the paper back up and put it in my purse, and as for the rose, I put it in my hair.

"It's nice that you work in a Sweet Shop. You get make cakes and bake, and not to mention you have a nice girlfriend, who you've been dating for 3 years." I teased him.

"Yeah. I know. Look at you. You have a boss who loves you like a daughter, a fiancée', a baby boy, me for a brother. Just with that part about me what else could you ask for?" He pointed out and we both laughed quietly. Our heads turned around quickly when we heard little feet padding the floor behind us.

"Is that my-" I turned to greet him but he had his arms crossed and had a scowl on his face.

"What's wrong?" Iggy asked trying to not laugh.

"You weft me." He says in his little voice. You have to love baby talk.

"I didn't leave you. Momma has to go to work, but daddy doesn't so he is going to stay with you." I say as I pull him up in my lap to comfort him.

"I want to stay with you though."

"What's wrong? Don't you want to spend time with him?"

"I love dad but I want to stay with you and him together." He says and wraps his hands in my hair. Granted Figgy had always been closer to me, but he never protested against my going to work or even staying with Fang.

"I'm going to call Steve and say I need the day off." I place Fig on my hip and grab my phone. Fig lays his head on my shoulder.

"Steve, I'm sorry. I can't come in today."

"In the 3 years you've worked here you've hardly asked for a day off. In fact, the only two times I can remember is when you had to take time off before the baby was born and when Nudge got pneumonia. So go ahead and take the day off. See ya later. Is everything ok?" A very concerned Steve asks.

"I'm not sure. Fig is just acting weird. I'm not sure what's going on. I'll call you later." I told him. We had a conversation, and I told him about how Fang and I got engaged. He was thrilled to hear, and wanted a front row seat at the wedding. I assured him that no one would be fighting for it so it's all his. I told him I had to go and he hung up. Fang came over to give my arm a break from holding Fig, but he was asleep and holding tight. We took him to our room, laid him gently down on my bed, and sat on the Fang's bed to look at him.

"He looks kind of feverish." Fang says and places light and warm kiss on my forehead, then puts his chin on my head.

"You're right. When he wakes up I'll give him a bath and see if that helps." I say and lean over and lay down on the bed. Fang lays down behind me and wraps his arms around me. We talked about how much we loved each other, but where interrupted when Fig said 'Ew.'

"What do you mean 'ew'?" Fang asks playfully and reaches over a pulls him then lays him between us. We smother him in kisses until he laughs.

"Stop." He tried to say through laughs. Fang stands up, picks up Fig up, and twirls him around. Fang is such a great dad. We return to the world outside our door.

"What color do you want for the wedding dress?" Nudge asks.

"White?" I say questionably.

"Oh perfect. What about a secondary color?" She asks one again.

"Want to make a deal?" I ask.

"Sure."

"You and Rosetta can plan a wedding that you think would be ok for and with me. When you finish I'll go over your rough draft, and then I'll help you. I have no idea about any of this."

"REALLY?" They both exclaim.

"Whatever. And don't take forever. I wanna marry him before we are 50." I say and stroke Figgy's hair; it's a lot like Fang's. He's sitting in front if me on the floor playing with a toy. Then he runs off to play.

"Be careful!" I shout as they run out the back door.

"Max, chill out. It's the back yard. Plus, between Gaz and Angel he's safe." Fang says. I nod my head in agreement.

"I love you. Did you know that?" I ask playfully.

"Yes." He says and returns a smile. We join them outside.

"Momma, look at this." Fig comes over to where I was sitting and crawled up on my lap. He showed me his knee, and it was all scraped up.

"Oh, Baby. What happened?" I ask.

"I fell. We were playing hide-n-seek, and I was looking for Gaz and Angel then I fell."

"Come on. Let's go get a band-aide." Fang says and takes him from my lap then places him on his hip. They are gone in a second. They came back with ice creams in hand. Fang sets down Fig and he runs to hand me my ice cream.

"Look at my cool bad-aide, Momma. And Daddy kissed my boo-boo and made it better." He said and showed me his Incredible Hulk band-aide.

"That's cool." He runs off again.

"Do we really have to wait until they plan the wedding? I want to marry you right now." Fangs asks.

"Me too. Not that I want to marry me, I want to marry you."

"That settles it then."

"I'll get back to you later; I'm going to talk to Nudge. Watch Figgy." I say and walk away. Nudge and Rosetta are in their room surrounded my 15 different magazines and looking at each of them.

"Fang and I have decided that we don't want a big wedding. Maybe we can get a nice sundress for the girls and the guys can wear those tee shirts that looks like a tux. I think that is my ideal wedding." I say and tap my chin thoughtfully. They look at me as if they could strangle me.

"I'll make that deal if we get to make the dresses." Rosetta suggested.

"Deal. So a wedding by next month?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

"Three months." Nudge poses. I shake my head no.

"Two months." We all say at the same time.

"Deal." We say again.

"It's all you." I say and them again. I walk to the back porch and inhale a lungful of fresh air.

"Max. Come here." Fang says.

"What is it? Where are you?" I ask and walk off the porch in search him.

"Look up." He was sitting in a tree.

"I'll be up in a minute, but I've got to put Fig down for his nap. Ok?" I shout up. I go to the river near our house is, that is his favorite place to play. He and Gazzy were pretending to be fishermen, and Angel talk to the fish to get them to come closer.

"Come on. Time for your nap." I say with outstretched arms, and ready to catch him. He was too fascinated with the fish to hear me.

"Fig. Come on." I kindly demand. He keeps his eyes on the water but backs up to me.

"Hi, Mommy." He smiles. I pick up and put him on my hip.

"Hey, Baby."

"Can we watch Power Rangers?" He asks with a yawn.

"While you get ready to take your nap. Ok." I sit in there with him and we watch Power Rangers. The original ones. Not the second hand crap stuff of today. I tell myself that I need to get to Fang but Fig has fallen asleep on me and I'm kind of tired too. I let myself drift. I wake and see everyone at the table playing Rummy, except for Fang who was asleep in the recliner next to me. Fig must be at the table too, because he's no longer with me. I must have been asleep just a little over an hour. I see Iggy is home, Rosetta and Nudge don't have a magazine stuck to their faces, and Angel has a look of mischief on her face.

"That's not fair, Angel! You knew I was going to pick that up!" Gazzy screams.

"You know I can read minds." She replies.

"Why don't you read someone else's mind? Leave mine alone or I'll think of something gross." He sounds frustrated. I walk in and try to break up their little argument.

"Angel, you broke the rules. You know the punishment." I say and she lowers her head. She has to surrender 30 points.

"You have excellent timing. I was just about to pull dinner out of the oven, and I didn't want to wake you up." Iggy says and rummies out. Everyone gasps in horror.


	20. Dinner Time

Chapter 20: Dinner Time

Max POV

"I'll wake up Fang, while you get dinner out of the oven." I say. I walk over to Fang and tap him on the shoulder. When that doesn't work, I slightly pinch the top of his ear. That's his sensitive point. I have no idea why but Fang hates when people touch his ears. He pops up immediately.

"What was that for?" He rubs his ear.

"I didn't pinch it that hard and come on it's time for dinner." I say. He forward with his head in his head trying to ward off sleep. I leave him there and return to the kitchen. I see Iggy cut up piece of some kind of casserole then placing them on paper plates. I get everyone to sit down, Gazzy says grace, then I pass out plates.

"How is it? It's a new recipe." Iggy asks and studies everyones face.

"This is righteous. Like manna from Heaven." Nudge says and rolls her eyes back as if in paradise.

"Thanks." He says and pushes his glasses up. We continue to eat in silence.

"You know that foods good when no one is talking." Gazzy throws in.

"This is good for for a wedding." I joke.

"Ig could do our cake." Fang says and holds my hand under the table.

"If he wants." I say then turn my head to him. He's practically beaming.

"I can?" His voice sounds like he just met Meagan Fox. Stunned. We take a look at each other and then nod in unison. Iggy leaned back and thinks of all the embarrassing things he could do to us.

"Nudge and Rosetta are planning your wedding. Iggy is making a cake. What can I do? Wait. I can make fireworks!" Gazzy exclaims.

"As long as you stay in legal boundaries." Fang replies.

"I think you should get married in New Hampshire." Angel, who has been quiet this whole time, says.

"That's random. But I can see it." Nudge says and closes her eyes to envision it.

"We'll talk about it. " I say and finish my food.

"You done, Baby?" I ask Fig.

"Yeah."

"You don't want seconds?" I ask again. He nods no. I pick him up and take him to the bathroom so I can wash him. I fill the bathtub half way and add some soap to make bubbles.

"Wow Mom. There has to be like a zillion bubbles." Fig says as he plays with the bubbles.

"Lift up your arms." I say and soap up his arms and then he washes it off. We finish his bath and I let him play for about 10 minutes then he says the water's cold. I get a towel that could wrap around him 3 three times.

"Oh no! Where did my baby go?" I play with him.

"Momma, I'm right here." He says.

"There you are. Let's get dressed and then we will brush our teeth." I grab his clothes and he gets dressed while I put toothpaste on our toothbrushes.

"Ready?" I ask.

"Ready." He repeats. I told him to count to 100 slowly and then he was done brushing his teeth, and ever since then we've used that method.

"Good job." I say and pick him up and put him on my hip.

"Do I have to go to bed right now?" He pouts playfully.

"Yes. Now go tell everyone goodnight. I'll be waiting in your room" I go to his room and begin to look for a book to read for him. He runs back in and jumps on the bed.

"Careful. You almost knocked me down. "

"Sorryyy."

"It's fine. What story do you want to hear tonight? The Lady and the Tramp or Beauty and the Beast?"

"Neither."

"What then?"

"I want to hear the story where you and daddy met." He says excitedly.

"Ok. If you're sure." I say. He nods excitedly.

"Well, we met when we were very little. In fact inly a few days after we were born. We grew up together with Uncle Iggy. Before you were born Uncle Iggy couldn't see, like when he can't find his glasses, only then he could see just darkness. But he wasn't always like that; when we were little the mean doctors did a surgery and when he woke back up he couldn't see anything. After that me and daddy would lead him around. Then another little came to live with us. Can you guess who?" I ask.

"Nudge?" He asks sleepily.

"Yes. When she came to live with us she was still a baby. We were kept at a mean hospital in a room. But then a man got us out and hid us in the mountains. We lived with him for a while and soon he brought little Gazzy and baby Angel. This man worked a lot so were alone lots of the time. Since me and Fang were the oldest we took care of everyone." I felt him start to doze off so I quieted my voice.

"And then the man that helped us died. And we were attacked and had to leave. We lived in the run for awhile. In that time momma and daddy began to notice how much we loved each other. We had some fights and even broke up but we couldn't stay away from each other. And soon after that we were captured by the mean hospital. Angel pretended to help them but she really helped us escape again. After that I found out that I was going to have a baby. I was scared at first but when I found out I was safe. But when it was almost time for my baby to be born someone took me away, and tried to take him away and they hid me. But your Uncle Ari, someone you don't remember meeting, but he met you, he helped me. He teamed up with daddy and everyone to get me out. Then one day I was in the garden at the mean hospital and everyone came over in the sky. Daddy flew down and snatched me up. He held me in his arms and he was taking me home when my baby decided it was time to come to met us. We found a nice hospital that was nearby and Uncle Iggy and Daddy were there to help me. Rosetta and Uncle Ari stayed behind to watch the kids." I say.

"You knew Rose back then?" He asks trying to fight sleep.

"Yeah."

"Wow. You've know everyone a long time haven't you?"

"Yepp. And after a while. I got to hold the most beautiful baby boy ever. Do you know who that baby was?"

"Yes. It was me." He points to himself.

"That's right." I finish trying to fight back tears.

"Momma? Will you love me even when I'm all grown up?" He asks.

"Of course. You will always be my baby."

"Continue your story please." He says; eyes fluttering.

"Now momma and daddy are going to get married and all of us: Uncle Iggy, Rosetta, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, Total, Daddy, and me are going to live happily ever af-" I look down at Fig but he was asleep. I look at him for a short while then slowly wiggle my way off the bed. I run my finger through his hair and kiss his cheek. I wipe a stray tear and walk out of the room and walk into someone.

"Fang?" I ask.

"That's my favorite story." He whispers and kisses me as I shut the door. I kiss him back.

"Mine too." I say and wipe away another set of tears.

"What's wrong?" He asks as we walk into our room.

"Nothing. I'm just being emotional."

"That's a happy story. So be happy." He say and wraps me in a warm hug.

"I know. It's just I think about all the times I could've lost you all, and I just lose it."

"It's ok. You didn't lose us and we didn't lose you. We are all safe."

"Ok." I say and lay on top of my cover. Fang cuts the light off and gets into his own bed.

"So. New Hampshire. I think it could be great to get away from here for awhile." Fang says.

"Yeah. Maybe." I whisper. Then there is silence and darkness, and I slip off into sleep. I wake up to the sound of someone scratching at the front door.

"Total? What is wrong?" I ask with a yawn.

"You really need to get a doggy door." He says. I roll my eyes and open the door.

"I'm going to leave the door open slightly but when you get back in, please shut it." I mumble. It's 1:30. I'm seriously going to choke that dog, but tomorrow after I get more sleep. Wait it is tomorrow so later when I get up. I shrug and scratch my head. Once I'm awake I stay awake, it's my curse. I see Total go back through the house and into Fig's bed. It's an arrangement we made that he stays and guards Fig at night and I feed him my scraps (If there's any left). I sit on the back porch and absurd the beautiful Tennessee night sky. It's warm outside and every now and again I can see a raccoon or a deer. I lean over the back deck and I spot something like a rabbit. I just want something to do so I leave my post and check it out. I can't help but feel like Alice in Wonderland when the rabbit takes off and I go after it. The slow creeping around has turned into a full chase. I eventually snap out my wings and take off flying. I zoom through into the night sky and try to fly as fast as I can. The refreshingly cool air is running through my hair, and to compare it to you folks without wings, it's like sticking your head out of a moving car that's going 80 miles per hour. I flew back to the house and crash on the couch.

_**Chapter 20! Who would've guessed I would get this far? I have to give a thanks to my best friend Sam for helping through my writers block. My new friend FangLover1 (Formerly known as Rose Garner) for being there and giving me a new friend. I hope for another 20 chapters, and if you do then review. Thanks. ^_^ Kiss. Kiss.**_


	21. Work

Chapter 21: Work

Max POV

"Momma, get up. It's time for you to get up." Fig stands over me and demands.

"Fig, leave mommy alone." Fang says quietly and I open my eyes just in time to see Fang playfully scoop Fig by his underarms and into the air.

"Daddy, when are you going to teach me how to fly?" Fig asks as they leave the room.

"You have to ask mom." Fang tells him.

"How about after breakfast?" I ask as I stretch As I'm mid-stretch Fig runs back to me and surrounds me in a big hug that knocks me back against the couch.

"You're awake." He says. I kiss the top of his head and send him back to the table.

"Sorry. I tried to keep him quiet." Fang says and sits by me.

"It's fine. I needed to get up anyway. I need to get ready for work." I reply and stand up. I drag my way to the bathroom and into the shower. I dry off and throw my hair up in a ponytail. I go back out and grab some toast and put some butter and cinnamon on it.

"Love you, Baby. Momma will be home at 7." I tell Fig and wave good bye to everyone else. I fly all the way to the bottom of the hill. I get here before Raechelle and go ahead to stock up. I finish then look at the clock. She is 10 minutes late. Typical. I mean she is cool and all but I'm here on time when I'm supposed to and still get paid as much as her.

"I'm here. The babysitter called in and said that she couldn't watch my kid anymore because I supposedly didn't pay my bill. Whatever. So I have to keep her with me. Is that ok?" She comes in and her black hair is in a mess. My mind is running and I come up with a brilliant idea.

"That's fine but my boyfriend is watching our family kids. If you want, Vicky is more than welcome to our house. You wouldn't have to pay and I have a kid her age and three other sisters." I say. She looks shocked.

"No. It's fine." She tells me.

"Rae, it will be fine. I promise. We live just up this hill." I point to the hill.

"She wouldn't be a bother?"

"Not one bit." I get my phone out and call Fang. I tell him the situation and that he should bring Fig so that Vicky wouldn't be so scared. He said he be there in 5 minutes.

"He'll be here in 5 minutes, and he's bringing Fig for you to meet." I tell Vicky and hug her.

"Who's that?" She asks.

"That's my son. He's your age."

"Has she eaten today?" I ask. Rae nods a yes. I look around and see Fang silent yet beautifully walking into the store with Fig by his side and holding his hand.

"There they are." I say and hold my arms out for Fig to hug. I kiss his cheek then introduce him to Vicky.

"Fig, this is Victoria, but we call her Vicky. Vicky, this is Figgy, but we call him Fig." I say.

"Hello." Says Vicky.

"Hi." Fig returns.

"Vicky is going to play with you today. I need you to be nice to her." I say. And they go over to talk to Rae. I walk over to Fang and stand beside him.

"Thanks. It really means a lot to her. She shouldn't be much trouble, because she's really quiet." I whisper.

"I'm really quiet and look at me. I've wreaked some much havoc." He jokes.

"I get your point." I reply and throw my arms around his neck as he wraps his around my waist and he kisses me. Like he actually leaned over and pressed his lips on mine, and it felt good.

"I'm clocked in. I got to get back to work." I say and walk away. I turn around to see his expression and his jaw is dropped. He puckers his lips and sends a little kiss then walks out with the little ones.

"You're lucky, Max. You should let me borrow him sometime." She says in her New York accent and wags her eyebrows.

"I know I'm lucky. Trust me Fang isn't going anywhere. Especially with you." I joke.

"I know. I mean did you see the way he looked at you? Like you're his oxygen. When are you getting married?" She asks.

"No idea. I'm going to ask for next week off. Hopefully my sisters will have it planned by then." I say and return to marking prices on pickle jars. She passed me another pack to mark.

"Oh. So where you going?"

"I'm thinking New Hampshire."

"New Hampshire, eh? Not to far from where I was born."

"Cool." The time passes by quickly and we make fun of the stuff we see people wear and how hot a random guy driving by is. Soon the day is over and we can go home. Rae offers me a ride in her car and I hesitantly accept. If you know me you know I don't like small spaces. I guess being locked up in a dog cage for your formative years can have its side affects.

"You don't look to hot? You ok?" Rae asks.

"Yes. It's nothing against you I just don't like confined spaces." I say and tug at my collar. Without a word she rolls the window down.

"Thanks." I say and lay my head against the seat and feel the air swoosh in around me.

"No prob." She replies. I guide her to our house and invite her into the house. She comes in I tell her to make herself at home. She follows me to the front door and into the living room.

"Fang?" I whisper loudly.

"Shh." He returns from down the hall. Soon he is coming down the hall with a sleeping Vicky in his arms. Her head is laying on his shoulder and her thumb is in her mouth.

"When she started getting sleepy she asked for me to hold her and then she fell asleep. She's been asleep since maybe 6:30." Fang explains as he hands Vicky to Rae.

"Was she any trouble?" Rae asks.

"Not one bit. She's welcome back anytime." Fang says.

"Thanks. It really means a lot."

"Understood."

"I should get home and put her to bed." Rae says and thanks us again then leaves. I carefully close the door behind her. I turn around and grab Fang by the collar.

"What!" He asks defensively. I kiss him.

"Nothing." I say and hold his hand. He leans his forehead over on mine.

"You know what?" I ask.

"What." He starts walking and I follow.

"I thought about your mother today. I wondered what she was like." I say and lay down in my bed.

"What about her? Well. I can't answer any questions you have because I never knew her." He shrugs.

"That makes it all the more imaginable."

"She's was probably a teenage druggie who didn't care about children and was glad to sell her kid to a bunch of freaks for some more money. I was just an accident." He says bitterly.

"I was the same age when I had Fig that she was when she had you. And I'm glad she did, because if you hadn't of ended up in the School then we would never met, and then I would be getting married to the hottest and most protective, and best guy in the world. I'm glad she had an accident. You're the best accident since carbonized drinks." I say and don't know if it had the right effect.

"But, Max. You didn't have a choice."

"What if she didn't? What is she was raped or something?"

"What if." He repeats. He's sounding really mad and I need to change the subject.

"What do you think about renovating the house? It's kind of small. Of course we would have to save money." I say. He looks at me like 'You've lost it.' I roll my eyes playfully.

"Well, once we are married you still want to sleep on your twin size bed?" I say.

"No. I can barely take it now." He replies.

"See my point?"

"Yeah. I think a brick house would be nice. With a white picket fence. And Total in the back yard. Oh yeah. I can see it all." He looks over at me then smiles.

"Faaang. I'm being serious."

"Maaaax. What do you want?"

"A house. That is strong and dependable. With a secure basement, in case there's ever a storm. And I want to see my family spend every Birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter for the rest of their lives there." I say.


	22. Getting Married

Chapter: 22: Getting Married.

Max POV

We've decided to go to New Hampshire. We thought it be a nice little escape. Rose drives the truck with all our stuff. Fig, Total, and Angel ride with her, and the rest of us are flying. We don't mind. We've not got to fly like this in a while. Mostly the guys hang together, and me and Nudge talk. All of us are over stimulated about the whole situation.

"Max." Nudge points ahead. The city is right ahead. We decided that we will get settled then plan everything out. Wonderful plan isn't it? Thanks to Nudge, at least we know we will have a nice place to stay. She made reservations at a fancy schamcy motel.

"Oh. My. Word." Angel says as we walk in.

"Are you sure we didn't stop at a castle?" Iggy asks.

"I just knew you all would love it." Nudge claps her hands excitedly. We check in, and we are taken to a room that would make the King of England speechless. Everyone sets their stuff down.

"This is awesome!" Gazzy says.

"Don't break anything." I say as kids run around the room. Fang comes up behind me, and wraps his arms around my little waist.

"I don't think it's real." I say. He starts kissing me.

"It's real." He assures me.

"Stop it." I giggle and push him back playfully.

"So, we've all got appointments to get our hair done. And the girls are having makeovers." Nudge pulls out a list and goes over it. She made some pretty cool dresses for the girls, and gave in to the idea of the t-shirts that look like tuxs. Each girl had to try on their dress for any last minute fixing, but it was all good. Tonight me and Fang slipped away from everyone. We went to a little cafe'. And one of my favorite songs came on. Let's Dance-Sara Evans. I started to tap my foot. Fang stood up, and reach his hand out for me. I take it, and we start dancing in the middle of the place.

"_Baby hold my hand. Show me you're my man. Take me to that land where we can be crazy. 'Cause this old world gets tough. When I've had __enough, need to know your love will be here to save me._" He twirls me in an upbeat manner. I smile, and lay my head against his chest for a second. Then we twirls me again.

"_Let's dance while the lights are shinin' bright. Let's dance while the music's feeling right. Romance 'til the night is through. You'll be holding me, and I'll be holding you. Let's dance._" When the second verse starts we start to sing along. Then we laugh too much to sing anymore. Right here, right now, I feel like no one exists. Just me and Fang. I look over and see an old man and old lady sway. I tap Fang's shoulder and point to them.

"That'll be us one day, Max." He whispers. I, once again, lose myself in thinking me and Fang are the only people in existence. The song goes off, and we stop. He places one hand on the back of my head, and then he brings me closer to kiss. Soon, the room is filled with clapping, and everyone is staring at us. (Especially a group of teenage girls who look like they could burst out crying.) We playfully bow, and take our seats.

"Thanks." I say.

"Anytime. Let's get outta here." He says and stand up with his cup of coffee, and I follow his lead. We walk around for a while talking about basically nothing, then decide we need to get back. We walk in, and everyone is passed out everywhere. As I look over them, it reminds me of when we lived in the New York subway tunnel. The way the were strung out on the floor. Me and Fang make a pallet on the floor, and join the rest of them. I lay down, and pull the cover up to my chin. Soon, I feel someone lay next to me. Not Fang. I open my eyes, and see Fig.

"Wanna sleep with me?" I ask with a smile. He nods. I lift up the blanket, and let him snuggle close to me. I kiss the top of his head, and let sleep take over me.

"So, I have idea's for the wedding songs. I've edited it down to the ones I think fit your... personalities." Nudge says from somewhere.

"I'm not the person to talk to." Fang says. I moan as I stretch. I pick up Fig, and put him on the couch so no one would step on him. I stumble over to the table. Fang, Nudge, and Gazzy are sitting at the table. Iggy is in the kitchen. When I sit down Iggy puts chocolate chip pancakes in front of me. I poke at them for second, then start chopping them up.

"How is everyone this morning?" I ask then take a bite. I get a variety of answers.

"Ok." I shrug my shoulders.

"OH MY GOODNESS! IGGY, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Rose screams. Ig laughs.

"What did you do?" I ask.

"Just watch." He says. Rose comes through with 5 different colors in her hair. All of our jaws drop.

"Nudge helped." Iggy yells as he takes off running. She chases him around. Until he trips over a blanket on floor, and she trips over him. They go to the ground laughing. They come back up. He kisses her.

"Better?" He asks.

"Once I get these colors out." The rest of the day passes by pleasantly fast. We've check the forecast, and the best weather is on Saturday. And tomorrow is Saturday. So us girls ran around frantically getting things together. It was hectic. But it got done with will power. Now, I'm sitting here with Fig asleep in my lap, and I'm sitting on the couch.

"You look like you're tired." Fang says. I shoot him an irritated look. He giggles. I adjust Fig so he don't get a stiff neck.

"My ears are going to bleed." I complain. Nudge hasn't stopped talking ALL DAY. I strokes Fig's very Fang-like hair.

"I think they on purpose made him to look just like you." I say. Fang's head rolls over to look at me.

"What? Why would they want someone to look like me?"

"Well, they cloned me." I shrug, and put my elbow on the armrest of the couch, and then put my temple over my fist. I close my eyes. I've had enough of this. I fall asleep.

"Max. Get up. You've got to start getting ready." Rose shakes my shoulder. I pull the cover over my head.

"We let you sleep in 30 minutes already." I sit up and I see it's just us girls. I yawn, and almost get shoved into the shower. I get out, and dry myself. I barely have time to wrap a towel around , when they drag me out of the bathroom, and sit my down in a chair. Nudge starts instantly on my hair, and Rose starts in my make-up. Nudge separates my hair, and then puts a butt load of hair moose in my hair then puts a hot roller in it. She does this all over my head. After 2 hours. I'm done. My hair dangles in perfect curls all over, and Nudge set a pearl headband to look like a tiara. Rose has worked miracles with the make up. I look like a pretty version of me. I put my sundress on, and they put their finishing touches on each other then we leave. (You need to know Max is wearing heels).

"Nudge. My shoe broke. My frickin' shoe broke, and I'm about to walk down the aisle." I say. I can see in the door. I can see Steve, Rae, and Vicky. And I guess some people who didn't have nothing else to do so they came, and sat at the court house. Nudge is desperately trying to fix my shoe.

"It's ok. I'll go barefoot." I push her into the room, and compose myself. The door opens. It's my turn. I kick my other shoe aside, and start to walk. Fang's eyes drift to my feet. He smiles. I shake my head. I smile uncontrollably at Fang wearing that tee shirt.

"Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today to unite these two in holy matrimony..." The Judge begins. I really just stare at Fang, and blank out on everything the Judge says. Then, Fang lifts my hand, and puts my ring on me.

"And do you, Maxine Irene Ride, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"Duh." I say, and put Fang's ring on his hand.

"Ok then. I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride." Fang takes a hold of face, and kisses me for what seems a minute. But he was gentle that when he broke away I wanted to pull him back. We leave, and Nudge has a little place set up at some park. We get there, and she starts the music. Fang takes me by the hand.

"_Lying here with you. Listening to the rain. Smiling just to see a smile upon your face. These are moments I thank God that I'm alive. __These are the moments I remember all my life. I found all I've waited __for, and I could not ask for more. Looking in your eyes; seeing all I __need. Everything you are is everything that I need._" Fig comes up behind Fang, and clears his throat. Fang smiles at me, and turns around.

"May I dance with my mother?" He asks. Fang picks him up, and put him in his hip. He instructs Fig what to do. Fig holds one of my hands, and Fang has the hand that's not holding Fig up around my waist, and I have one arm draped around Fang's neck.

"_No, I could not ask for more than this love you give me. 'Cause it's all I've waited for, and I could not ask for. No. I could not ask for more._" The song ends. Me and Fang kiss either of Figgy's cheeks. Then, Fig returns the favor, and Fang sets him down. The next song comes on. (Forever and Ever, Amen- Randy Travis.)

Fang looks over at the group of boy, and turns back to me. I usher him to go on.

"Still wanna dance with me?" I ask Fig. He nods. I pick him up, and place him in front of me.

"_You may think that I'm talking foolish. You've heard that I'm wild and I'm free. You may wonder how, I can promise you now, this love that I feel for always will be. Well, you're not just time that I'm killing. I'm no longer one of those guys. As sure as I live, this love that I give, is gonna be yours until the day that I die. Oh, Baby. I'm going to love you forever and ever. Forever and ever, amen. As long as old men sit and talk about the weather, as long as old women sit and talk about old men._" I kind of sway/rock Fig. After a few songs Fang comes back over, and Fig runs to play with Vicky.

"You are the most beautiful woman in the world and all through out all the galaxies. No one can compare to you." He kisses me. I thank him. Finally me and Fang, Together. Everyone else returns to Tennessee tonight, but me and Fang are staying back. We got just each other tonight.


	23. Home

Chapter 23: Home.

Max POV

I wake up, when Fang begins to scratch between my wings like only he could. I look up at him, and his eyes are still closed. I reach up, and kiss the tip of his nose. His eyes shoot open, and he looks down at me. A smile creeps its way across his lips. And his lips start to creep over mine. I can feel his smile against my lips.

"Morning." I say when we break apart.

"Hey." We share a few more kisses, we run fingers through each others hair, and then I stop.

"What?" He asks.

"I'm hungry." I say with a smile, and push him off me. I get up, and look for clothes. I look back at Fang, and he's looking at me like I'm crazy. I might be. I get some toast, and Fang comes from the room wearing an expressionless face. I sit down at the table, and Fang does too. He just stares at me.

"Quit it." I say.

"What? Breathing?"

"Staring at me. It's creepy. Like you."

"Hey, you're the one who married me." He returns with a smile.

"You married me, too." I finish eating, and wipe my hands on my shorts. I hand him a piece a toast to distract him from me for two seconds. I hand it to him, and go to the shower. I sit in there for what I know was 30 minutes.

"Did you melt in there?" Fang asks.

"No. Did you?"

"I'm not the one whose been in the shower for 30 minutes."

"What do you want to do today?" I turn the shower off.

"Nothing. I want to sit and look at you." Fang says sincerely. I stick my head around the shower curtain.

"Ok." I can agree to that. Since when has it just been me and Fang alone. We watch TV, chase each other around, eat, watch more TV but don't really pay attention to it, and hold each other. After a few kisses Fang looks at me expectantly. I roll my eyes, and give in. He grabs either side if my hair, and kisses me greatly. I return the favor. We have to go home tomorrow. Not that I mind it's just that Fang and I don't get a lot of alone time.

"Wake up." I say as I lay across Fang's chest. He opens his eyes, and smiles. I kiss him, and get up. We sent most of our stuff home, except for 2 pairs of jeans, and some tee shirts. We gather our stuff, and put it in our backpacks.

"Got everything?" He asks as he puts his baseball cap on, and passes me mine. He looks so cute with his longish hair, and tan skin.

"Yes." We check out, and walk to a nearby park. We make sure the coast is clear before we take off. We hold hands as we fly. We take break in Virginia. Nothing to see really. We get going again, and get home by 3:45 a.m. I get the extra key out, and unlock the door. We drop our stuff at the door, and drag to the bed.

"Momma! You're back!" Fig jumps up on the bed. I wake up.

"Hey. What about me?" Fang asks. Fig smiles, and falls over on Fang. There's no denying that Fang loves Figgy. He's always got an eye on him. Always playing or interacting with him.

"No way. He's my baby." I say, and playfully grab Fig, and set him on my belly. He put his legs on either side of me, then he leans down, crossed his arms over my chest, and put his chin in is arm. This puts his face only a few inches from mine. I raise up, and kiss his forehead. He laughs, and Fang takes him back. We play with him for a few minutes, then have to get up. He goes to his room, and gets dressed while Fang and I do the same. We leave our room, and go out on the back porch to get some sun. Soon, all of the flock is on the back porch, laughing and talking. We don't fix breakfast, but everyone snacks around.

"I've got a job offer." Fang says when everyone goes inside.

"Really?"

"Yeah. One of the places that I went to before Steve's. They want to hire me an office worker. I know it sounds boring, and probably is, but I will make good money."

"I don't care about the money. As long as you're happy. I couldn't care if you were a garbage man."

"Really?" He lets out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah."

"I'm supposed to start the day after tomorrow."

"Ok." I shrug my shoulders.

"I thought you might get upset."

"Why would I get upset?"

"I won't be working with you anymore."

"How far will you be?"

"I'm only a mile from the bakery where Ig works." Well, to save time, Fang starts his job, and loves it.

"How was work?" I ask as we cuddle up in bed.

"Just fine. And you?"

"It's was ok. Kind of boring." I say. Now, it's been a few weeks since we returned. Lately, I've been feeling muggy. I probably overdid myself with the flying. We hadn't flown like that in a while, and to all of a sudden do it again. Not a good thing to do. Yeah, I can hide it from the flock, but for how long?


	24. Finding Out

Chapter 24: Finding Out.

Max POV

Ok. Breathe. To brief you, I went to the drug store, and got a pregnancy test. I've had some of the symptoms so I have to check. Thing is I haven't told anyone yet. It's says you have to wait 3 minutes, and it's been two. I pace back and forth in the bathroom.

"My goodness, Max. What is taking so long? We're going to be late for work." Fang said from outside the bathroom door.

"One minute." I say. I check it. It's positive! I burst through the bathroom door, and pounce on Fang.

"We did it! It's positive!" I shout. I hug him, and he hugs me back.

"Wait. Are you talking about?" He questions.

"Yes! Fang!" He hugs me not too tightly. He twirls me, and then we share a kiss.

"We're having a baby!" He sounds ecstatic.

"What's the commotion about?" Iggy stumbles from his room.

"Iggy! I'm pregnant!" I run to him, and hug him too. He's still half asleep, but he pats my head insure of what is what. Then, I think of Fig. What are we going to tell him? I'm sure he'll be fine.

"What?" Rose's head pops out from her room. She walks over to hug me.

"Thanks, but we gotta go. We're going to be late for work." Fang says, and pulls me out the door. We hold hands as we fly.

"I love you so much." He looks down at me.

"I know." He goes his way to work, and I go to Steve's. I tell Rae (Fang's replacement) about the baby. She a cool girl.

"How far along are you?" She asks in her New York accent.

"Not sure. I think 3 or 4 weeks." I floated around until it was time to leave. I get home, and tell everyone else. The ones that weren't up this morning.

"Oh. My." Nudge begins. I wonder how long until Fang gets home.

"Oh no. Not again." Iggy jokes. Rose punches his arm.

"I was only kidding." He defends himself. Rose lays her head back down Iggy's shoulder. Fig is already asleep, and in his bed. So is Angel and Total. So that leaves Me, Iggy, Rose, Gazzy, and Nudge awake. We talk about next to nothing. Fang comes in looking like he's drained, but when he looks at us he perks up.

"Hey." He greets everyone, and sits by me.

"I'm hoping it's a girl. We have so many boys around here." Nudge says.

"What's wrong with boys?" Iggy asks.

"No offence, but their not girls."

"You sexist pig!" He exclaims, and points his finger at her. That's what I always used to call him. We laugh.

"I said no offence." She crosses her arms in front of her chest.

"That doesn't mean it didn't hurt." He grabs his chest like he's in distress. Rose rolls her eyes. After a few more words, Fang's head is resting in my shoulder. He has drifted off. As everyone talks to each other, I whisper to Fang.

"Let's go to bed." I pat his knee. He slowly raises up.

"Ok." He goes ahead of me.

"Goodnight, everyone. Love ya." I say, and follow Fang to our bedroom. He gets on top of the covers, and goes to sleep immediately. Well. I wake up to the sound of Fang bustling around the room.

"What are you looking for?" I ask.

"My work shirt."

"I hung them up in the laundry room after I washed them."

"Oh. Thanks. You need to get up."

"I know." I say, and sit up. He leaves. I stand up, and the morning sickness begins. Oh the joys of being pregnant. After my throw up fest I get ready for work. I go get Fig up, because I know if he sleeps in he'll be up all night.

"Hey, Baby." I say as I set on the edge of his bed.

"Momma, my head hurts." He says.

"I'm sorry. How about I let you sleep 10 more minutes see if that helps. Actually Uncle Iggy will have to because I've got to go to work, but I'll check on you at my break. Ok?"

"Ok." He closes his eyes, and I kiss his cheek. I walk out of the room.

"Where's Iggy?" I ask when I don't see him in the kitchen.

"He's out. Went grocery shopping." Rose says.

"Oh. Well, Fig isn't feeling like getting up this morning so I told him he can sleep 10 more minutes. Can you take care of that?"

"Yeah. Go now. Fang already left."

"Ok. Thanks." I walk out the door. Getting to work was pretty easy, but I get there, and of course, Rae is late. I get a head start on stocking shelves, but beside that it's a slow day. I pick up a magazine, and sit at the register.

_**Baby Fax! Woot-Woo. Please Review!**_


	25. I've lost it

Chapter 25: I've lost it.

Max POV

I hear lots of screaming and commotion outside. I walk up to the front of the store to see what was going on. I saw Rae fighting with her ex-boyfriend, and it looks pretty bad. When I see him actually hit Rae I barge outside like an idiot.

"What the heck do you think your doing?" I say and grab his arm before he can hit Rae again.

"Little girl, get out of my way. Before I hit you too." He snaps.

"I would love to see you beat me up." I retort and let go of his hand. I automatically throw my hands up to block the punch I knew was coming.

"Beginner's luck." He spits. I see Rae pull out a phone behind her jacket and I know she's calling the police.

"Nope. Try super awesome butt-kicking prettier-than-you girl." I say, and dodge another punch.

"I'm getting bored." I say and grab his arm, twist it behind his back, bring him to the ground, and place one knee on his back. He struggles, but I've got him good. He manages to get out and lands a punch on my stomach, and I hit my head against a gas pump. Not my baby. No. Rae gasps as she takes in what I realized. I jump back as I hear sirens pull up. I wrap my hands around my stomach, and I'm scared to death. Both Rae and I explain to the police what happened, mostly Rae. After the police take whatever-his-name-is off in their cruiser Rae turns to me with panic written all over her face.

"Max. I'm so sorry. You should've not interfered. It was my battle, and I could've handled it just fine."

"Obviously. Look at you you're shaking from fear. And you're right I shouldn't have interfered... You should've kicked his fat butt to next year for hitting you!" I yelled. She sat there silently with tears running down her face. Great.

"Rae, I'm sorry. It's those crazy pregnant lady hormones. You kind of can't control them." I joke. After that she cried worse. How do people deal with all this? I'm used to my suck-it-up-and-move-on- flock.

"You don't need to be sorry. In fact, you should call in and say you had an emergency and have to go. I won't mind. You need to rest. Can I get you something to drink?" She wouldn't shut up until I put my hand over her mouth.

"I just need to rest for about 10 minutes or so then we will see what happens after that. I'm just going to lay down in the break room. Ok?" I say.

"That's fine." She says and wipes some tears away. I'm stopped as I walk in.

"You've got blood running down the back of your head and ... down your jeans?" She asks. I'm just as confused as she is. I turn around and examine the front and back of my jeans. Horror fills my every sense.

"Rae, give me your phone. I need to call my brother." I demand and slouch down to the ground. She quickly hands it to me and I dial the number. (I can't call Fang because he is at work he got a new job.)

"Iggy. I need you to come pick me up. Now." I say and hang up the phone. Only a few minutes later I hear that old truck coming down the hill (Steve bought a new car, and gave us his truck so we wouldn't have to walk to work. But I still do.). In case you've not caught on. Normally, when you have bleeding during your pregnancy it means you've had a miscarriage. I couldn't take that. Ig pulls up and jumps out the truck.

"What happened?" He demands, and helps me up.

"I-I- m-my boyfriend-." Rae stutters.

"No time for explanations." I say and get in the truck. Iggy drives me to the Doctor's office, I sign in, and take a seat by Iggy. He holds one of my hands, and strokes it with the other to calm me.

"Mrs. Ride." A nurse comes out and calls my name. I stand up, and reach back to grab Iggy's hand. I don't care who it is right now, I just need someone to hold onto. The nurse leads us to a room, and tells us the doctor will be in shortly.

"Hello, Max. How are you?" Dr. Riley Bennet asks. I stand up to show him my jeans.

"Oh. Let's get you an ultrasound and see what's going on." He says. I lay down and lift my shirt. Iggy turns his head away. Psst. He she me in a bikini. What is a little tummy going to do ?

"Who do we have with us today, Max?" Riley asks.

"I'm her brother. My name is Iggy." Iggy tells him; he knows I'm not in a talking mood. After 15 minutes there's still nothing to be found. Riley looks up at me with a grave look on his face.

"I'm truly sorry, Max." is all He says. That's all it takes for me to burst up, and out of the room with Iggy right behind me. I run to the car, then crouch right beside it, and burst out crying.

"It's all my fault!" I cry into Iggy's shoulder. He's holding me and tries to make sense of everything I'm mumbling.

"Max. Let's get home." Is all he says to me. He steadies me and helps me into the car. He doesn't say anything to me. Iggy can be quite understanding sometimes. We get home, and I demolish the pregnancy test. I throw it in the garbage, and go to the attic for some alone time. It's not really like and attic more like a top most bedroom. I press my ear against the floor and I can hear what's being said below.

"Fig, come get your lunch." Iggy says.

"Coming." He says and makes little airplanes noises until he gets to the table.

"Roger. Roger. Air craft Figgy is making a landing to get more fuel." Ig jokes.

"Thanks Uncle Iggy."

"Eat up. After you finish eating I'm taking you and the others to the park."

"Really?"

"Yes, but you've got to eat every last bite."

"Where's Momma?" He asks.

"Momma is out." He says. I hear the oven beep and a herd of feet coming the hall.

"Did you make cookies?" Gazzy asks.

"Yes. Come and get some. Watch Fig, I'll be right back." Iggy's voice disappears. Soon the stairs that lead to the attic were creaking.

"Max?" Iggy asks and flicks his flashlight on.

"Here." I say. He walks over to me and sits down.

"I brought you 2 blankets, 2 pillows, a cup of milk, and some chocolate chip cookies. Oh and a flash light. Just in case." He says.

"Thanks." I say and he wraps a blanket around me.

"I'm taking the kids out. Do you need anything?"

"No. But what time does Fang get off work?" I ask and lean my head over in his shoulder.

"About 30 minutes to a hour. Depends on how many people are coming in."

"UNCLE IGGY! I'M DONE!" Fig calls out. We both give a little laugh, he gives me a shoulder hug, and then he leaves. I thank him and spread out one of the blankets for me to lay on and then throw the other one aside. I lay in silence thinking about the life my lost child might have had. I think about, if it was going to be a girl, how she would have pretend tea parties, how she'd have daddy take her to the pretend ball, and dance upon his shoes. If it was going to be another boy, how Fig would teach him all sorts of 'secret' boy stuff, and he would maybe learn to cook like Iggy. How either way that baby would be perfect and adored, and most importantly mine. At that thought I lost it again. I don't hear anything until I feel Fang's arms wrapped around me pulling me up to his shoulder. I grab the back of his shirt and cry into it.

"Tell me what happened. All I was told is that it's not good." Fang said with a shaky voice.

"I-I...I lost our b-baby. This guy elbowed me in the stomach." I cry lowly. He puts his hand where our baby should be as if to check to see if I was lying. I feel Fang's hot tears run down my arm.

"Max?" He says in a low tone and squeezes me tight.

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault."

"Not everything is your fault. It's that frickin' jerks fault. Why did he elbow you?" He pets my hair. I shake my head in a no to let him know I don't want to talk about it.

"But why? Why us? All of our lives we've had the crappy hands dealt to us. Why us?" I shake all over. He loosens his grip on me and backs up so we can catch our breaths. We stand up and I grab him back in a hug. He hugs back and rubs my back gently.

"I'm not going to you everything is ok, because it's not. But I'm going to tell you that it doesn't matter what happens I'm here."

"Always?" I question as we stay in a half-dance.

"Always. You see this wedding ring? This means even if it kills me, I will be here next to you." He whispers in my ear and kisses me gently on my lips. We continue to sway until I stop crying.

We go downstairs just in time to see Iggy and Rosetta pull in with the rest of the flock. I quickly compose myself and wait for Fig to run into my arms. In fact, I don't even wait for him to come in; I go outside and get him out of the car. I hug him tight. I get him ready for bed and he's asleep in no time. I slip off to the side of the bed and watch him sleep. I feel tears falling down my cheeks and a stabbing pain in my heart. He turns over and sleeps on his stomach just like I do. I stroke his hair for I have no idea how long. All I know is Fang came and got me. I insisted on staying a few more minutes, and he sat beside me. Sometime after 12:15 Fang drags me from Fig's room.

"Good night." Is all he says to me. Really? Every other time he could come up with a speech that would stop Shakespeare in his tracks, but when I really need to hear that he loves me all that he says is 'Good night.'?

"I love you, Max. I really do." He says as if he is reading my mind.

"I love you too." I crawl in bed next to him and I feel as if I'm in bed with a stranger. At least until his warm, olive arm wraps around me. I cling tightly to him to make sure he's really there. I turn over (still in his arms) and look at his sleeping face. He looks...relaxed. I'm happy for him, but when I blink I get scared because I open my eyes and see Fang's endless pits he has for eyes staring right back at me.

"I'm really sorry." He whispers.

"Sh." I say and put a finger over his lips.

"Just hold me." I say and scoot closer to him. He wraps his arms around me. I fall asleep with his warm breath coming down on me.


	26. Afterward

Chapter 26: Afterwards.

Waking up. Not on my top priority today. I want to pull the covers over my head. I'm still wrapped in Fang's arms. I sit up, and stare blankly at the wall. I can't help but feel empty. I rub my hand over my belly until Fang's hand takes hold of my hand to stop me. I put my hand down. I don't know what to say so I get up to take a shower. I get out, and go to the back porch. I sit in silence, and watch the sun rise. I rub my empty stomach again. No one knows what I'm going through. There's no one who can fully understand. Sure they might be sad or upset over this, but I'm completely broken. I hear voices from inside the closed door. Right now I just want to be left alone. I have to get ready for work. I stand up, and go inside.

"There you are momma." Fig says, and latches around my knees. I reach down, and pick him up. He rubs his nose gently against mine, and I kiss him.

"Hey, Baby." I hug him, then set him down. He goes to the table, and go back to eating. I go get ready, and see Fang is still asleep. I go over, and tap his shoulder. I sit on the edge.

"You've got to get ready for work." I say. He turns over, and wraps his arm around me, and uses the other to rubs his eyes.

"Ok." He sits up, and wraps the other around me as well. I lean my head over on his shoulder, and feel my toughness drop. I feel like crying my eyes out. And I let a few tears out. Fang kisses my hair.

"I'm sorry." He says. I wipe my face into his shoulder, and get up. I get my work clothes together, and start to get out of my night clothes. Fang walks passed me to the shower. I get changed, and go on out to get something to eat. I tell everyone goodbye, and go on my way. I work with Robert.

"Hey, Max." He says, and put his hand up for a high five.

"Hey." I greet him. Finally someone who didn't know I was pregnant, and wouldn't question me on how I feel.

'What's up?" He asks.

"Nothing. What about you?"

"Same. How's the family?"

"They're great."

"Tell, Tyler we need to hang out sometime." He turns his attention to a customer. Fang still uses Tyler as his social name because he thinks that name is more normal than 'Fang'. He actually uses it because people think he's gothic, and with that name it only raises the bar.

_**Fang POV**_

Here I am. At work around back crying my eyes out. The strong and fearless Fang, who never shows his emotions, I'm losing it. I couldn't be like this in front of Max. I had to be strong for her. Now, I'm alone, and no one was watching me. I heard someone call my name, I look up, and wipe my shirt over my eyes.

"Tyler!" The voice calls again. I stand up, and walks right past them. I go sit at my desk. I look at the pictures that are there. One of Max and Fig when he turned 3. A group picture. And one of Max and I holding Fig after he was born.

"That's some family you got. Very good looking." John says from behind me. I turn around to look at my boss.

"Thanks." I say, and my voice totally gives it away that I'm upset. Steve was right, when I first met him he told me that if we lost that baby our lives would be turned upside down. Granted he was talking about Fig, but same concept.

"What's bothering you?"

"It's nothing."

"No, tell me." There's a moment of silence. He sits on the corner of the desk.

"My wife had a miscarriage." I compose myself before I lose it again. I put my hand over my mouth, and wipe the corners of it.

"I'm sorry. Are you ok?" He asks.

"Fine. Just need to do some work to get my mind off of it."

"Ok. If you need something, you know where I am." He leaves. Hours pass. I finally go home, and everyone is asleep, so I join them.


End file.
